



Book 



^ 



S^^ 



Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



miUv&iU CDucattonal jHonofimp^ss 

EDITED BY HENRY SUZZALLO 

PROFESSOR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION 
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



THE RECITATION 



BY 

GEORGE HERBERT BETTS, Ph. D. 

PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY 
CORNELL COLLEGE, IOWA 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

BOSTON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 



l^' 






COPYRIGHT, I9IO, BY GEORGE HERBERT BETTS 
COPYRIGHT, 191 1, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



eC!.A2 8i;on6 



CONTENTS 

Editor's Introduction . . . . v 

I. The Purposes of the Recitation . i 

II. The Method of the Recitation . .27 

III. The Art of Questioning ... 53 

IV. Conditions Necessary to a Good Reci- 

tation 79 

V. The Assignment of the Lesson . 105 

Outline 119 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

Teachers are not always clear as to what they 
mean when they speak of the recitation. A vari- 
ety of meanings are associated with the term. 
Some of these are suggestive but quite vague ; 
and others, although more definite, are but par- 
tial truths that hinder as much as they help. It 
is not surprising that a confused usage of the 
term is current among teachers. 

From one point of view, the recitation is a 
recitation-period, a segment of the daily time 
schedule. In this sense it is an administrative 
unit, valuable in apportioning to each school sub- 
ject its part of the time devoted to the curricu- 
lum. Thus, we speak of five recitations in arith- 
metic, three in music, or two in drawing, having 
in mind merely the number of times the class 
meets for instruction in a particular school study. 
A recitation here means no more than a class- 
period, a more or less arbitrary device for con- 
trolling the teacher's and pupils' distribution of 
energy among the various subjects taught. 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

From another point of view, the recitation is 
a form of educative activity rather than a mere 
time allotment. In this sense the recitation is a 
process of instruction, a mode of teaching, 
wherein pupils and teacher, facing a common 
situation, proceed toward a more or less conscious 
end. It is a distinct movement in classroom ex- 
perience, so organized that a definite beginning, 
progression, and end are clearly distinguishable. 
Thus we speak of the method of the recitation, 
the five formal steps of the recitation, or the 
various types of recitation. Such a usage makes 
"recitation" synonymous with '^lesson." In- 
deed, when we pass from general pedagogical 
discussion to a detailed treatment of special 
methods of teaching, we usually abandon the 
term "recitation" and use the word "lesson." 
Although there is always some notion of a time- 
period in the curriculum in our idea of a lesson, 
yet the term "lesson" is more intimately con- 
nected with the thought of a teaching exercise 
in which ideas are developed and fixed in mem- 
ory. It is through the lesson or recitation that 
pupils and teachers influence one another's 
vi 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

thought and action; and when this condition 
exists, there is always educative activity. 

These two ways of thinking of the recitation, 
one primarily administrative and the other pri- 
marily educative, need to be somewhat sharply 
differentiated in our thinking. However closely 
related they are in actual schoolroom work, how- 
ever greatly they influence each other in prac- 
tice, they require a theoretic separation. Only 
by this method can we avoid some of the error 
and confusion current in teaching theory and 
practice. A single instance will suffice to show 
the value of the distinction. 

No one of us would deliberately assume that 
the teaching process required for the instruction 
of a child would just cover the twenty, thirty, or 
forty minutes allotted to the class-period, day 
after day and year after year, regardless of the 
subject presented or the child taught. Yet this is 
precisely the sort of assumption that is implied 
throughout a considerable portion of our current 
discussion of the teaching process. We talk 
about a "developmental-lesson" or a "review- 
recitation" in, say, geography, as though it began 
vii 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

and ended with the recitation-period of the day. 
The daily lesson-plans we demand of apprentice- 
teachers in training-schools are largely built 
upon this basis. 

Of course the fact that one must begin a theme 
at a given moment and close at a similar arbitrary 
point affects the teacher's procedure somewhat. 
He will always have to attack the problem anew 
at ten o'clock and pull together the loose ends of 
discussion at ten-thirty, if these happen to be 
the limits of time assigned him. But who will be 
bold enough to assert that the psychological 
movement for the development and solution of 
the particular problem at hand will always be 
exactly thirty minutes long ? It is possible, and 
quite probable, that the typical movements in 
instruction — development, drill, examination, 
practice, and review — may occur v>^ithin a single 
class-period, following fast upon the heels of 
each other as the situation may demand. It is 
equally probable that in many cases any one of 
them may reach across several class-periods. We 
need a more flexible way of thinking of the reci- 
tation and of the teaching activities involved in 
viii 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

class-periods and of other administrative factors 
which condition the effectiveness of teaching. 
Such a clear, flexible treatment of the recita- 
tion is offered in this volume. We feel that it will 
be particularly welcome to the practical teacher 
since so many previous treatments of this sub- 
ject have been formal or obscure. Combining 
the training of a psychologist with the experi- 
ence of a class teacher, Professor Betts has given 
us a lucid, helpful, and common-sense treatment 
of the recitation without falling into scientific 
technicality or pedagogical formalism. 



THE PURPOSES OF THE 
RECITATION 



THE PURPOSES OF THE 
RECITATION 

The teacher has two great functions in the 
school ; one is that of organizing and managing, 
the other, that of teaching. 

In the first capacity he forms the school into 
its proper divisions or classes, arranges the pro- 
gramme of daily recitations and other exercises, 
provides for calling and dismissing classes, pass- 
ing into and out of the room, etc., and controls 
the conduct of the pupils ; that is, keeps order. _ 

The organization and management of the school 
is of the highest importance, and fundamental to 
everything else that goes on in the school. A 
large proportion of the teachers v^^ho are looked 
upon as unsuccessful fail at this point. Prob- 
ably at least two out of three who lose their 
positions are dropped from inability to organize 
and manage a school. While this is true, how- 
I 



THE RECITATION 

ever, the organizing and managing of the school 
is wholly secondary; it exists only that the teach- 
ing may go on. Teaching is, after all, the primary 
thing. Lacking good teaching, no amount of 
good management or organization can redeem 
the school. 

I. The teacher and the recitation 

Teaching goes on chiefly in what we call the 
recitation. This is the teacher's point of contact 
with his pupils ; here he meets them face to face 
and mind to mind ; here he succeeds or fails in 
his function of teaching. 

Failure in teaching is harder to measure than 
failure in organization and management. It quickly 
becomes noised abroad if the children are not 
well classified, or if the teacher cannot keep 
order. If the machinery of the school does not 
run smoothly, its creaking soon attracts public 
attention, and the skill of the teacher is at once 
called into question. But the teacher may be 
doing indifferent work in the recitation, and the 
class hardly be aware of it and the patrons know 
nothing about it. There is no definite measure 
2 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

for the amount of inspiration a teacher is giving 
daily to his pupils, and no foot-rule with which 
to test the worth of his instruction in the reci- 
tation. 

And it is this very fact that makes it so neces- 
sary that the teacher should study the principles 
of teaching as applied to the recitation. The dif- 
ficulty of accurately measuring failure in actual 
teaching tends to make us all careless at this 
point. Yet this is the very point above all others 
that is vital to the pupil. Inspiring teaching may 
compensate in large degree for poor manage- 
ment, but nothing can make up to a pupil for 
dull and unskillful teaching. If the recitations 
are for him a failure, nothing else can make the 
school a success so far as he is concerned. 

The ultimate measure of a teacher, thereforey is 
the measure taken before his class , while he is con- 
dticting a recitation. 

2. The necessity of having a clear aim 

Any discussion of the recitation should begin 
with its aims or purposes ; for upon aim or pur- 
pose everything else depends. For example, if 
3 



THE RECITATION 

you ask me the best method of conducting a 
recitation, I shall have to inquire before answer- 
ing, whether your purpose in this recitation is to 
discover what the pupils have prepared of the 
work assigned them ; or to introduce the class to 
a new subject, such as percentage in arithmetic; 
or to drill them, as upon the multiplication table. 
Each of these purposes would demand a different 
method in the recitation. Again, if your purpose 
is to show off a class before visitors, you will need 
to use a very different method from what you will 
employ if your aim is to encourage the class in 
self-expression and independence in thinking. 

There are three great purposes to be accom- 
plished through the recitation : te stingy teachingy 
and drilling. These three aims may all be accom- 
plished at times in the same recitation, may even 
alternate with each other in successive questions, 
but they are nevertheless wholly distinct from 
each other, and require different methods for 
their accomplishment. The skillful teacher will 
have one or the other of these three aims before 
him either consciously or unconsciously at each 
moment of the recitation, and will know when 
4 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

he changes from one to the other and for what 
reason. Let us proceed to consider each of these 
aims somewhat more in detail. 

3. Testing as an aim in the recitation 

Testing deals with ground already covered, 
with matter already learned, or with powers 
already developed. It concerns itself with the old, 
instead of progressing into the new. It seeks to 
find out what the child knows or what he can do 
of that which he has already been over in his 
work. Of course every new lesson or task at- 
tempted is in some measure a test of all that 
has preceded it, but testing needs to be much 
more definite and specific than this. 

The testing discussed here must not be con- 
fused with what we sometimes call ''tests," but 
which really are examinations, given at more or 
less infrequent intervals. Testing may and should 
be carried on in the regular daily recitations by 
questions and answers either oral or written, 
bearing on matter previously assigned; by dis- 
cussions of topics of the lesson assigned ; or by 
requiring new work involving the knowledge or 
5 



/ 



THE RECITATION 

power gained in the past work which is being 
tested. The following are some of the principal 
things which we should test in the recitation: — 

a. The preparation of the lesson assigned. — The 
preparation of every lesson assigned should be 
tested in some definite way. This is of the utmost 
importance, especially in all elementary grades. 
We are all so constituted mentally that we have 
a tendency to grow careless in assigned tasks if 
their performance is not strictly required of us. 
No matter how careful may be the assignment 
of the lesson, and no matter how much the 
teacher may urge upon the class at the time of 
the assignment that they prepare the lesson 
well, the pupils must be held responsible for this 
preparation day by day, without fail, if we are to 
insure their mastery of it. 

Nor is it enough to inquire, " How many under- 
stand this lesson.?" or "How many got all the 
examples } " It is the teacher's business to test 
thoroughly for himself the pupil's mastery of the 
lesson or the knowledge or power required for the 
examples, in some definite and concrete way. 
It will not suffice to take the pupil's judgment 
6 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

of his own preparation and mastery, for many will 
allow a hazy or doubtful point to go by unex- 
plained rather than confess before teacher and 
class their lack of study or inability to grasp the 
topic. Further, pupils seldom have the standards 
of mastery which enable them to judge what con- 
stitutes an adequate grasp of the subject. 

b. The piipiVs knowledge and his methods of 
study. — Entirely aside from the question of the 
preparation of the lesson assigned, the teacher 
must constantly test the pupil's knowledge in or- 
der that he may know how and what next to teach 
him ; for no maxim of teaching is better estab- 
lished than that we should proceed from the 
known to the related unknown. And this is only 
another way of saying that we should build all 
new knowledge upon the foundation of know- 
ledge already mastered. 

To illustrate : Pupils must have a thorough 
mastery and ready knowledge of addition, sub- 
traction, multiplication, and division before we can 
proceed to teach them measurements or fractions. 
And without doubt much time is wasted in at- 
tempting to teach these subjects without a ready 
7 



THE RECITATION 

command of the fundamental operations. Fur- 
ther, pupils must know well both common and 
decimal fractions before they can proceed to 
percentage. They must know and be able to 
recognize readily the different *' parts of speech" 
before they can analyze sentences in grammar. 

But not less important than what the pupil 
knows is how he knows the thing ; that is, what 
are his methods of study and learning. The pupil 
in a history class may be able to recite whole 
pages of the text almost verbatim, but when ques- 
tioned as to the meaning of the events and facts 
show very little knowledge about them. A student 
confessed to her teacher that she had committed 
all her geometry lessons to memory instead of 
reasoning them out. She could in this way satisfy 
a careless teacher who did not take the trouble to 
inquire how the pupil had prepared her lessons, 
but she knew little or no geometry. 

The mind has what may be called three differ- 
ent levels. The first is the sensory level, repre- ^ 
sented by the phrase "in at one ear and out of the 
other." Every one has experienced reading a page 
when the mind would wander and only the eyes 
8 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

follow the lines on down to the bottom of the 
page, nothing remaining as to the meaning of the 
text. It is easy to glance a lesson over just before 
reciting, and have it stick in the memory only long 
enough to serve the purposes of the recitation. 
Things learned in this way are not permanently 
serviceable and really constitute no part of an 
education. 

The second level of the mind may be called the 
^^memory level. Matter which enters the mind only 
to this depth may be retained for a considerable 
time but is little understood and hence of small 
value. All rules and definitions committed with- 
out knowing their meaning or seeing their appli- 
cation, and all lessons learned merely to recite 
without a reasonable grasp of their meaning, sink 
only as deep as the memory level. 

The third and deepest level is that of the under- 
standing. Matter which permeates down through 
the sensory and memory levels, getting thoroughly 
into the understanding level, is not only remem- 
bered but is understood and applied, and therefore 
becomes of real service in our education. Of course 
it is clear that the ideal in teaching should be to 
9 



THE RECITATION 

lead our pupils so to learn that most of what en- 
ters their memory shall also be mastered by their 
understanding. 

Therefore, in the recitation we should test not 
alone to see what the pupil knows, but also to see 
how he knows it; not only to find out whether he 
can recite, but also what are his methods of learn- 
ing. We should discover not alone whether the 
facts learned have entered the memory, but 
whether they have sunk down into the under- 
standing, so that they can be used in the acquisi- 
tion of further education. 

c. The pupiVs points of failure and the cause 
thereof. — Every teacher has been surprised 
many times to discover weak places in the pupil's 
work when everything had seemingly been thor- 
oughly learned. With the best teaching these 
weak places will occasionally occur. It is not less 
essential to know these points of failure than to 
know the foundations of knowledge which the 
pupil has already mastered. For these weak spots 
must be remedied as we go along if the later work 
is to be successful. Very frequently classes are 
unable to proceed satisfactorily because of lack 

10 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

of thoroughness in the foundation work which 
precedes. To know where a pupil is failing is the 
first requisite if we are to help him remedy his 
weakness. 

But not only must the teacher know where 
the pupil is failing, but also the cause of his 
failure. Only when we know this can we intel- 
ligently apply the remedy for the failure. A 
physician friend of mine tells me that almost any 
quack can prescribe successfully for sickness if 
he has an expert at hand to diagnose the case 
and tell him what is the matter. This is the 
hardest part of a physician's work and requires 
the most skill. So it is with the teacher's work 
as well. If we are sure that a certain boy is fail- 
ing in his recitations because he is lazy, it is not 
so difficult to devise a remedy to fit the case. If 
we know that another is failing because the work 
is too advanced for his preparation, we select a 
different remedy. But in every case we must 
first know the cause of failure if we hope to pre- 
scribe a remedy certain to produce a cure. 

Some teachers prescribe for poorly learned 
lessons much after the patent medicine method. 
II 



THE RECITATION 

A recent advertisement of one particular nostrum 
promises the cure of any one of thirty-seven dif- 
ferent diseases. Surely with such a remedy as 
this at hand there will be no need to diagnose a 
case of sickness to find out what is the trouble. 
All we need to do is to take the regulation dose. 
And all patients will be treated just alike what- 
ever their ailment. This is the quack doctor's 
method as it is the quack teacher's. If the 
teacher is unskillful or lazy the remedy for poor 
recitations usually is, " Take the same lesson for 
to-morrow." There is even no attempt to discover 
the cause of failure and no thought put on the 
question of how best to remedy the failure and 
prevent its recurrence. 

4. Teaching as an aim in the recitation 

While testing deals with the old, — reviewing 
and fixing more firmly that which we have al- 
ready learned, — teaching, by using the old, leads 
on to the new. To educate means to lead out — to 
lead the child out from what he already has at- 
tained and mastered to new attainments and 
new mastery. This is accomplished through 
12 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

teaching. It is not enough, therefore, to employ 
the recitation as a time for testing the class; 
the recitation is also the teacher's opportunity 
to teach. Teaching as distinguished from testing 
becomes, therefore, one of the great aims of the 
recitation. 

Teaching should accomplish the following ob- 
jects in the recitation : — 

a. Give the child an opportimity for self-ex- 
pression. — "We learn to do by doing," provid- 
ing the doing is really ours. If the doing holds 
our interest and thought nothing will serve to 
clear up faulty thinking and partly mastered 
knowledge like attempting to express it. One 
really never fully knows a thing until he can 
so express it that others are caused to know it 
also. 

Further, every person needs to cultivate the 
power of expression for its own sake. Expression 
consists not only of language, but the work of 
the hand in the various arts and handicrafts, 
bodily poise and carriage, facial expression, ges- 
ture, laughter, and any other means which the 
mind has of making itself known to others. 
13 



THE RECITATION 

These various forms of expression are the only 
way we have of causing others to know what we 
think or feel. And the world cares very little 
how much we may know or how deeply we may 
feel if we have not the power to express our 
thoughts and emotions. 

The child should have, therefore, the fullest 
possible opportunity in the recitation for as 
many of these different kinds of expression as 
are suitable to the work of the recitation. Not 
only must the teacher be careful not to monopo- 
lize the time of the class himself, but he must 
even lead the children out, encouraging them to 
express in their own words or through their draw- 
ings and pictures, or through maps they make 
or through the things they construct with their 
hands, or in any other way possible, their own 
knowledge and thought. The timid child who 
shrinks from reciting or going to the blackboard 
to draw or write needs encouragement and teach- 
ing especially. The constant danger with all 
teachers is that of calling upon the unusually 
quick and bright pupil who is ready to recite, 
thus giving him more than his share of training 
14 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

in expression and robbing thereby the more 
timid ones who need the practice. 

b. Give help on difficult points. — A complaint 
frequently heard in some schools, and no doubt 
in some degree merited in all, is, " Teacher will 
not help," or, "Teacher does not explain." No 
matter how excellent the work being done by the 
class or how skillful the teaching, there will al- 
ways be hard points in the lessons which need 
analysis or explanation. This should usually be 
done when the lesson is assigned. A teacher 
who knows both the subject-matter and the 
class thoroughly can estimate almost precisely 
where the class will have trouble with the les- 
son, or what important points will need especial 
emphasis. And in the explanation and elabora- 
tion of these points is one of the best opportuni- 
ties for good teaching. The good teacher will 
help just enough, but not too much ; just enough 
so that the class will know how to go to work 
with the least loss of time and the greatest 
amount of energy ; not enough so that the les- 
son is already mastered for the class before they 
begin their study. 

15 



THE RECITATION 

But it is necessary to help the class on the 
hard points not only in assigning the lesson, but 
also in the recitation. The alert teacher will in al- 
most every recitation discover some points which 
the class have failed to understand or master 
fully. It is the overlooking of such half-mastered 
points as these that leaves weak places in the 
pupil's knowledge and brings trouble to him 
later on. These weak points left unstrengthened 
in the recitation are the lazy teacher's greatest 
reproach ; the occasion of the unskillful teach- 
er's greatest bungling ; and the inexperienced 
teacher's greatest "danger points." 

c. Bring in new points supplementing the text. 
— While the lesson of the textbook should be 
followed in the main, and most of the time de- 
voted thereto, yet nearly every lesson gives the 
wide-awake teacher opportunity to supplement 
the text with interesting material drawn from 
other sources. This rightly done lends life and 
interest to the recitation, broadens the child's 
knowledge, and increases his respect for the 
teacher. In this way many lessons in history, 
geography, literature — in fact, in nearly all the 
i6 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

studies, — can have their application shown, and 
hence be made more real to the pupils. 

d. Inspire tJie pupils to better efforts and higher 
ideals. — The recitation is the teacher's mental 
"point of contact" with his pupils. He meets 
them socially in a friendly way at intermissions 
and on the playground. His moral character and 
personality are a model to the children at all 
times. But it is chiefly in the recitation that the 
mental stimulus is given. The teacher who is 
lifeless and uninspiring in the teaching of the 
recitation cannot but fail to inspire his school to 
a strong mental growth, whatever else he may 
accomplish. 

Most pupils have powers far in excess of those 
they are using. They only need to be inspired, 
to be wakened up mentally by a teacher whose 
mind is alive and growing. They need to be made 
hungry for education, and this can be accom- 
plished only by a teacher who is himself full of 
enthusiasm. Inspiration is caught, not taught. 

e. Lead pupils into good habits of study. — It 
is probably not too much to say that one third or 
one half of the pupil's time is lost in school be- 

17 



THE RECITATION 

cause of not knowing how to study. Over and 
over pupils say to the teacher, "I didn 't know how 
to get this." Many times children labor hard over 
a lesson without mastering it, simply because 
they do not know how to pick out and classify 
its principal points. They work on what is to 
them a mere jumble, because they lack the power 
of analysis or have never been taught its use. 

Very early in school life the pupil should be 
taught to look for and make a list of the princi- 
pal points in the lesson. If the lesson starts with 
a Roman numeral I, the child should be taught 
to look for II and III, and to see how they are 
related to I. An Arabic i usually means that 2, 
and perhaps 3 and 4 are to follow ; the letter a at 
the head of a paragraph should start the pupil to 
looking for by c, etc. And if the text does not con- 
tain such numbering or lettering, the pupil should 
be led to search for the main divisions and topics 
of the lesson for himself. 

Of course these principles will not apply to 

spelling lessons, mere lists of sentences to be 

analyzed or problems to be solved, but they do 

apply to almost every other type of lesson. The 

18 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

best time to teach the child to make the kind of 
analysis suggested is when we are assigning the 
lesson. We can then go over the text with the 
class, helping them to select the chief points of 
the lesson until they themselves have learned 
this method of study. 

5. Drill as an aim in the recitation 

There is a great difference between merely 
knowing a thing and knowing it so well that we 
can use it easily and with skill. Perhaps all of us 
know the alphabet backwards ; yet if the order of 
the dictionary were reversed so that it would run 
from Z to A, we would for a time lack the skill 
we now have in quickly finding any desired 
words in the dictionary. 

Certain fundamentals in our education need to 
be so well learned that they are practically auto- 
matic, and can hence be skillfully performed 
without thought or attention. We must know our 
spelling in this way, so that we do not have to 
stop and think how to spell each word. In the 
same manner we must know the mechanics of 
reading, that is, the recognition and pronunci- 
19 



THE RECITATION 

ation of words, the meaning of punctuation marks, 
etc. ; and similarly multiplication and the other 
fundamental operations in arithmetic. Pupils 
should come to know these things so well that 
they are as automatic as speech, or as walking, 
eating, or any other of the many acts which " do 
themselves." If this degree of skill is not reached, 
it means halting and inefficient work in all these 
lines farther on. Many are the children who are 
crippled in their work in history, geography, and 
other studies because they cannot read well 
enough to understand the text. Many are strug- 
gling along in the more advanced parts of the 
arithmetic, unable to master it because they are 
deficient in the fundamentals, because they lack 
skill. And many are wasting time trying to 
analyze sentences when they cannot recognize 
the different parts of speech. 

Skill is efficiency in doing. It is always a ^ 
growth, and never comes to us ready-made. To 
be sure, some pupils can develop skill much 
faster than others, but the point is, \\\2X skill has 
to be developed. Skill is the result of repetition, 
or practice, that is, of drill. 

20 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

The following principles should guide in the use 
of drill in the recitation : 

a. Drill should be employed wherever a high 
degree of skill is required. — This applies to 
what have been called the " tools of knowledge," 
or those things which are necessary in order to 
secure all other knowledge. Such are the *' three 
R's," reading, (w) riting, and (a) rithmetic, to 
which we may add spelling. Without a good foun- 
dation in these, all other knowledge will be up- 
hill work, if not wholly impossible. 

b. Drill must be upon correct modelsy and with 
alert interest and attention. — Mere repetition 
is not enough to secure skill. What teacher 
has not been driven to her wits' ends to pre- 
vent the successive lines in the copy book from 
growing steadily worse as they increase in num- 
ber from the copy on down the page! Surely 
drill with such a result would be long in arriv- 
ing at skill. Such practice is not only wholly 
wasted, but actually results in establishing false 
models and careless habits in the pupil's mind. 
Each line must be written with correct models 
in mind, and with the effort to make it better 

21 



THE RECITATION 

than any preceding one, if skill is to be the out- 
come. 

Much of the value of drill is often lost through 
lack of interest and attention. The child lazily 
sing-songing the multiplication table may learn 
to say it as he would a verse of poetry, and yet 
not know the separate combinations when he 
needs them in problems. What he needs is drill 
upon the different combinations hit-and-miss, and 
in simple problems, rapidly and many times over, 
with sufficient variety and spice, so that his inter- 
est and attention are always alert. A certain boy 
persisted in saying " have went " instead of "have 
gone." Finally his teacher said, "Johnny, you 
may stay to-night after school and write *have 
gone' on the blackboard one hundred times. 
Then you will not miss it again." 

Johnny stayed after school and wrote " have 
gone" one hundred times as the teacher had 
directed. When he had completed his task the 
teacher had gone to another part of the building. 
Before leaving for home Johnny politely left this 
note on the teacher's desk: "Dear Teacher: I 
have went home." Plenty of drill, but it was not 

22 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

accompanied by interest and attention, and hence 
left no effect. 

c. Drill must not stop short of a reasonable 
degree of efficiency^ or skill. — Most teachers 
would rather test or teach than drill. Others 
do not see the necessity of drill. Hence it hap- 
pens that a large proportion of our pupils are not 
given practice or drill enough to arrive at even a 
fair degree of skill Set ten pupils of the inter- 
mediate grades to adding up four columns of fig- 
ures averaging a footing of lOO to the column, 
and you will probably have at least five different 
answers. And so with many of the fundamentals 
in other branches as well. We too often stop prac- 
tice just short of efficiency y and thereby waste both 
time and effort. 

d. Drill must be governed by definite aims. — 
Probably drilling requires more planning and care 
on the part of the teacher than any other work 
of the recitation. Drill applied indiscriminately 
wastes time and kills interest. To study a spell- 
ing lesson over fifteen times as some teachers 
require is folly. Every spelling list will contain 
some words which the pupil already knows. He 

23 



THE RECITATION 

should put little or no drill on these, but only on 
the troublesome ones. In learning and using the 
principal parts of verbs it is always the few that 
cause the difficulty. "He done it"; "Has the 
bell rang f *' Set down." These and a few other 
forms are the ones which give the trouble ; they 
should receive the drill. Likewise in arithmetic, 
there are certain combinations in the tables, and 
certain operations in fractions, measurements, 
etc., which always make trouble. They are the 
"danger points," and upon these the practice 
should be put. 

The teacher must aim, therefore, to select the 
difficult and the important points and drill upon 
these until they are mastered, being careful not 
to stop at the "half-way house," but steadily to 
go on until skill is obtained. He must be re- 
sourceful in methods and devices which will re- 
lieve the monotony of repetition ; he must be 
persistent and patient, insisting on the attain- 
ment of skill, but realizing that it takes time to 
develop it ; he must possess a good pedagogical 
conscience which will be satisfied with nothing 
short of success in his aims. 
24 



PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

6. A desirable balance among the three aims 

The aims to be accomplished through the reci- 
tation are, then, testings teaching, and drilling. 
These three aims may, as said before, all be car- 
ried on in the same recitation, or they may come 
in different recitations, as the needs of the sub- 
ject require. Not infrequently they may alternate 
with each other within a few moments. In every 
case, however, the teacher should have clearly 
in mind which one of the three processes he is 
employing and why. Not that the teacher must 
always stop to reason the matter out before he 
employs one or the other, but that he should 
become so familiar with the nature and use of 
each that he almost unconsciously passes from 
one to the other as the need for it arises. 

Not many teachers are equally skilled in the 
use of testing, teaching, and drilling. Some have 
a tendency to put most of the recitation time on 
testing whether the class have prepared the as- 
signment, and devote but little time to teaching 
or drilling. Others love to teach, but do not like 
to test or drill. It is highly desirable that every 
25 



THE RECITATION 

teacher, young or old in experience, should exam- 
ine himself on this question and, if he finds him- 
self lacking in any one of the three, carefully set 
to work to remedy the defect. The ideal for us 
all to reach is equal skill in each of the three 
processes of the recitation, testing, teaching, and 
drilling. 



THE METHOD OF THE 
RECITATION 



II 

THE METHOD OF THE 
RECITATION 

I. Method varies with aim 

In the last chapter we discussed the aims or pur- 
poses of the recitation. We now come to see how 
these aims affect the methods we employ. For it 
is evident at the outset that the method we 
choose must depend on the aim sought in the 
recitation. If we seek to-day to make the recita- 
tion chiefly a test of how well the lesson has been 
prepared, or how much of yesterday's work has 
been retained, we will select a method suited for 
testing. If we aim to introduce the class to the 
subject of percentage for the first time, the 
method must be adapted to teaching. If we wish 
to make the recitation a drill in the diacritical 
markings or the multiplication table, the method 
must be still a different one. In other words, the 
method must be planned to accomplish certain 



THE RECITATION 

definite ends if the teaching is to be purposeful 

and effective. 

2. Fundamental principles of method 

There are certain fundamental principles of 
method which underlie all teaching, and which, 
therefore, are to be sought in every recitation, 
no matter what the special method used may 
chance to be. The first of these principles may 
be stated as follows : — 

a. Interest is the first requisite for attention 
andallmental activity. — A recitation without in- 
terest is a dead recitation. Because it possesses 
no life it cannot lead to growth. Nothing can 
take the place of interest. Fear may drive to 
work for a time, but it does not result in develop- 
ment. Only interest can bring all the powers and 
capacities of the child into play. Hence the 
teacher's first and greatest problem in the reci- 
tation is the problem of interest. To secure 
interest he must use every resource at his com- 
mand. This does not mean that he is to bid for 
the children's interest with sensational methods 
and cheap devices. This is not the way to secure 
30 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

true interest. It means, rather, that he is to 
offer to the class subject-matter suited to their 
age and experience, and presented in a way 
adapted to their capacity and understanding; 
that he is to have all conditions surrounding the 
recitation as favorable as possible ; and that he 
is himself to be constantly a source of interest 
and enthusiasm. If these conditions are all met 
the problem of interest will present few difficul- 
ties. 

b. The statural mode of learning is to proceed 
from the known to the related unknown. — This is 
a statement of what is known as the principle of 
apperception^ or the learning of the new by con- 
necting it with the old already in the mind. To 
make use of this principle it is necessary to 
freshen up what the pupil knows on a topic by 
asking him questions or otherwise causing him 
to think anew the facts previously learned that 
are related to what he is about to learn. For ex- 
ample, when beginning the subject of percent- 
age, the subject of decimals should be reviewed, 
since percentage is but an application of decimals 
and can most easily be learned and understood 
31 



THE RECITATION 

as such. Likewise in beginning the study of the 
Civil War, the question of slavery and that of the 
doctrine of states' rights should be reviewed, 
since these are fundamental to an understanding 
of the causes of the war. In similar manner we 
might apply the illustration to every branch of 
study. Indeed there is hardly a single recitation 
which should not start with a brief review or a few 
questions to freshen up in the minds of the pupils 
the points related to the coming lesson. Not 
only will this insure that the lessons themselves 
shall be better understood, but the entire subject 
will in this way come to possess a unity instead 
of consisting of a series of more or less discon- 
nected lessons in the mind of the child. 

3. The use of special forms of method 

Having stated these two general principles of 
method, we will now consider some of the special 
forms of method to be employed in the recitation. 
In discussing these methods and comparing them 
it is not to be forgotten that attention and in- 
terest are dependent in large measure on change 
and variety. The same method used day after 
32 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

day in the recitation palls upon a class and in- 
vites listlessness and inattention. A teacher 
should never employ cheap or sensational de- 
vices in a recitation just to have something new, 
but neither should he work a good method to 
death by too constant use. 

4. The question-and-answer method 

The question-and-answer method is so familiar 
to every one that it requires no formal definition. 
It is employed in all grades from the primary to 
the university, and it is adapted alike to testing, 
teaching, and drilling. 

This method admits of wide modification to 
suit it to specific uses. The questions asked may 
require but a short and simple answer, such as 
can be given by a primary pupil. They may also 
require a long and complex answer which will 
test the powers of the most advanced student. 
The questions may be detailed and searching, 
covering every point of the lesson, as when we 
are testing preparation. They may deal only with 
certain related truths, as when we "develop" a 
new subject intentionally by questions and an- 
33 



THE RECITATION 

swers. Or they may select only the most import- 
ant points upon which the class needs drill. 

a. When and where to employ the question- 
and-answer method. — The question-and-answer 
method is particularly adapted to the lower 
grades, in which the children have not yet de- 
veloped the ability to recite independently on 
long topics. This method allows the teacher to 
encourage and draw out the child by what is 
really a conversation between the two, the teacher 
asking simple questions and the child respond- 
ing to them. In more advanced grades the ques- 
tions may be so arranged as to require longer 
and more complex answers, and thus lead up to 
the topical method of reciting. 

The question-and-answer method is also suit- 
able to employ at the beginning of a recitation to 
recall to the minds of the class previous lessons 
to which the lesson of the day is related. There 
is hardly one recitation in a hundred that does not 
require an introduction of this kind. The only 
true method in teaching is to build the new 
knowledge on the related old knowledge which 
is already in the mind. This is what is meant in 
34 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

pedagogy by "proceeding from the known to 
the related unknown." And the known must 
always be fresh and immediately present to the 
mind. Hence the necessity for the introductory 
review. 

This method is also serviceable in reviewing 
former lessons. By the use of well-selected ques- 
tions a large number of important points already 
passed over can be brought before the class in a 
short time. 

On the whole, it is probable that we do not 
review frequently enough in our recitation work. 
We review a subject when we have finished the 
text upon it, or before examination time, but 
this is not enough. Careful psychological tests 
have shown that the mind forgets within the first 
three days a large proportion of what it will finally 
fail to retain. Further, there is great economy in 
catching up a fading fact before it gets wholly 
away from us. This would suggest the constant 
use of the question-and-answer method to fix 
more firmly the important points in ground we 
have already passed over. 

One of the most important uses of this method 
35 



THE RECITATION 

is found in all inductive teaching. The famous 
** Socratic method " was simply the question-and- 
answeir method applied by Socrates to teaching 
new truths. This noted teacher would, by a series 
of skillful questions calculated to call forth what 
the pupil already knew, lead him on to new 
knowledge without actually telling the youth any- 
thing himself. And this is the very height of 
good teaching — the goal toward which we all 
should strive. 

It is a safe maxim never to tell a child what 
one can lead him by questioning to see for him- 
self. To illustrate : Suppose an elementary arith- 
metic class already know thoroughly how to find 
the area of a rectangle by multiplying its base 
by its altitude, and that we are now ready to 
teach them how to find the area of a triangle. 
Let us see whether we can lead them to "develop" 
the rule instead of learning it out of the text ; 
that is, we will proceed inductively. First draw 
a rectangle 4 by 6 on the board. 

Q. What do we call this figure } 

A. A rectangle. 

Q. How shall we find its area } 
36 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

A. Multiply its base 4 by its altitude 6 ; the 
area is 24. 

Q. Now I draw a line diagonally across the 
rectangle ; how many figures are there ? 

A. Two. (Teacher here gives new word "tri- 
angle " and explains it.) 

Q. How do the base and altitude of the tri- 
angles compare with the base and altitude of the 
rectangle ? 

A. They are the same. 

Q. How do the two triangles compare in area ? 

A. They are equal ; each is half of the rect- 
angle. 

Q. Then, if each is half of the rectangle, what 
must be the area of one of the triangles.^ 

A. The area of each triangle is 12, for the area 
of the rectangle is 24, and the area of each tri- 
angle is half that of the rectangle. 

Q. Then, how may we find the area of a tri- 
angle .-^ 

A. Multiply the base" by the altitude and take 
one half the product. 

Of course the teacher may have to supple- 
ment questions like the above by others to assist 
37 



THE RECITATION 

the child in arriving at the desired answer, but 
the method is the same in any case. The induc- 
tive method is the child's natural way of learn- 
ing, and should be applied to nearly all school 
branches. Too many teachers have children learn 
rules and definitions which mean little or no- 
thing to them. This is not only discouraging to 
the child and a serious waste of time, but it de- 
velops bad habits of study by making the pupil 
think he is learning something when he is not. 
Only when the fact or process learned is under- 
stood is it true knowledge. The inductive method 
begins with what the child already knows and, 
step by step, leads him to understand the new 
truths. It comes last to the rule or definition 
after the meaning is clearly seen. 

b. Dangers of the que stion-and-answer method. 
— No matter how good a method may be, there 
are always some dangers connected with its use, 
some points at which a teacher needs to be on 
guard to see that the method is not misused or 
over-used. The question-and-answer method is 
no exception to this rule. 

One of the greatest dangers in the use of this 

38 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

method is that pupils will come to depend on the 
questions as a crutch to help them along men- 
tally when they should be able to proceed by 
themselves. Not infrequently do pupils say to 
the teacher when called upon for a topical dis- 
cussion, " If you will ask me questions upon the 
topic I can answer them, but I cannot recite 
upon the topic." It is very much easier to an- 
swer a series of questions upon a subject than to 
discuss it independently. This method is well 
adapted to younger children ; and this very rea- 
son makes it a danger when over-used with more 
advanced pupils. We need to learn to think 
a subject through and talk about topics without 
the help of a teacher to stand by and ask ques- 
tions ; we need to become independent in our 
thinking ; we need practice in organizing and ex- 
pressing our thoughts for ourselves. 

The second danger we note in the question-and- 
answer method is that it does not give as much op- 
portunity for training in self-expression as the top- 
ical method. In teaching by the question-and-an- 
swer method, the teacher occupies nearly or quite 
as much time with the questions as the class do 
39 



THE RECITATION 

with the answers. This does not give opportunity 
for practice enough in reciting on the part of the 
pupil, if the question-and-answer method is em- 
ployed exclusively. The only way for a child to 
learn to recite well is by reciting ; the only way to 
learn to express one's self is by having opportunity 
for expression. 

5. The topical method 

The topical method is too familiar to require 
definition. In this method the teacher suggests a 
topic of the lesson or asks a question which re- 
quires the pupil to go on in his own way and tell 
what he can about the point under discussion. 
There is really no hard and fast line between 
the topical method and the question-and-answer 
method. The fundamental difference between 
the two is this: In the question-and-answer 
method, the question is definitely upon some fact 
or point, and requires a specific answer bearing on 
the fact or point of the question ; in the topical 
method, the question or topic suggested requires 
the pupil to decide upon what facts or points need 
discussion, and then to plan his own discussion. 
40 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

a. Where the topical method is most service- 
able. — As has already been explained, the topical 
method requires more independence of thought 
than the question-and-answer method, and will 
therefore find its greatest use in the higher grades. 
We are not to think, however, that the topical 
method is not to be used until some certain grade 
has been reached, and that then the child will 
suddenly find himself able to use it. The ability 
to think independently and speak one's thoughts 
freely is a growth, and is not attained suddenly 
at a given age. Even little children, telling their 
language stories, are using the topical method, 
and should be encouraged in its use. As the grades 
advance, however, the use of this method should 
increase, and the length and difficulty of the topics 
should grow, so that recitation by topics can be 
efficiently carried on in the higher intermediate 
and grammar grades. 

Probably the easiest forms of the topical recita- 
tion are found in history or reading lessons, where 
narration abounds. Narration deals with a succes- 
sion of events, and is always found one of the 
easiest forms of discourse. In proof of this, one 
41 



THE RECITATION 

has but to note the fluency and ease with which a 
child will narrate the events of a game, a trip, or 
an accident, whereas if you call upon him for log- 
ical explanations or even for description, as for 
example, " Just what kind of looking team was it 
that ran away ? " much more difficulty will be ex- 
perienced in telling about it. 

Another great field for topical recitations is 
found in all lines where description is required. 
This applies to all nature study and science, to 
geography, to certain phases of literature and his- 
tory. To describe even a commonplace object ac- 
curately and well is an art more rare than most 
of us would think. Suppose you ask the first per- 
son you meet to describe fully the house in which 
he lives or the sunset which he has just seen. If 
he seriously tries to comply with your request, you 
will probably be surprised both by the difficulty he 
has in his attempt, and the little that he really can 
say upon these familiar subjects. The interesting 
story teller is a rarity, which is only another way 
of saying that the ability to narrate and describe 
needs cultivation. There is no better opportunity 
possible than that of the topical recitation. 
42 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

The topical method can manifestly be used to 
supplement the question-and-answer method in 
testing the pupils on the preparation of the lesson, 
or in reviewing former lessons. It can also be 
well used in teaching new subject-matter which 
does not particularly require the developmental, 
or "Socratic," method. Illustrations of such ma- 
terial are to be found in much of the work in his- 
tory and in literature ; also in the descriptive parts 
of geography, nature study, and science. 

When the topical method is being employed it 
will nearly always need to be supplemented by 
questions and answers. Very rarely will a pupil 
recite upon any important topic with such accu- 
racy and completeness that nothing more needs 
to be said concerning it. Hence, after the pupil 
has completed his topical discussion, the teacher 
can round out the subject, impress the more im- 
portant points, or correct wrong impressions, by 
a few questions to be answered either by the pu- 
pil who has had the discussion or by the remainder 
of the class. 

The topical method gives the teacher the best 
opportunity to teach the pupils how to study. It 
43 



THE RECITATION 

is safe to say that most pupils consider that they 
"have their lesson" when they understand it, or 
think they can remember it. But if the child is to 
be taught expression, as well as given knowledge, 
it is evident that this is not enough. Not only 
should a pupil be sure that he understands his 
lesson and can remember it, but also he should 
think how best to express it in the recitation. 
The teacher can help the class in this when as- 
signing the topics by showing the pupils how to 
pick out the main points of the topics, and arrange 
them in order for discussion. This is, of course, 
really training in analysis — a power that all 
pupils need to cultivate. 

b. The question of standards in topical recita- 
tions. — The success of the topical method will 
depend much on the teacher's standards of thor- 
oughness applied to its use. Children, particu- 
larly of the lower grades, have not yet developed 
much grasp of mind, and consequently are not 
able to judge when they have sufficiently cov- 
ered a topic given them for recitation. They are 
likely to think that if they stand up and say 
something about the topic, this is sufficient. 
44 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

It is at this point that the teacher needs to 
exercise gieat care. The child must not be dis- 
couraged by harsh criticism, but neither must an 
incomplete recitation be accepted as a complete 
one. The teacher must judge carefully how full 
a discussion should be expected from a child of 
the given age, taking into account the treatment 
of the topic in the pupil's textbook. Then by 
questions, further discussion by other pupils, 
kindly criticisms, and helpful suggestions, the 
standard should be placed as high as the class 
can attain. Nor is it to be forgotten that the 
standard is to be a constantly advancing one. 

6. The lecture^ or supplemental method 

The lecture method is rather too formal a 
name for the method in which the teacher talks 
to the class instead of asking them to recite. 
He may either take the entire period in a lecture, 
or talk, or he may only supplement now and 
then the answers or topical recitations of the 
pupils. This method is almost exclusively used in 
many universities and colleges, but is not suited 
for extensive use in more elementary schools. 
45 . 



THE RECITATION 

a. How the lecture method is to be zised. — 
While the lecture method should be employed 
sparingly in the elementary school, yet it is 
most valuable to supplement other methods. 
First, in introducing a class to a new subject or 
section of work, it is frequently desirable that 
the teacher should take a part or the whole of a 
recitation period to explain the nature of the 
work or to interest the pupils in it. For example : 
In taking up the discovery of America, the 
teacher can create interest by telling the class 
of the wonderful events going on in Europe 
during the fifteenth century, of the life of Co- 
lumbus as a boy, of the ships then in use, com- 
paring them with our present steamships, etc. 
Similarly for almost every new section taken up 
in any study. 

The lecture method is also useful in supple- 
menting the recitations of the pupils. The 
teacher's knowledge must be much broader than 
the textbook ; and a little explanation added, an 
incident told, or an application of the lesson 
made will often do much to broaden the pupil's 
knowledge of the subject, and will at the same 
46 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

time lend interest to the recitation, besides in- 
creasing respect for the teacher's education. 
There is nothing more deadening to the recita- 
tion than a mechanical plodding through the 
questions and answers of a textbook without any 
explanation or amplification, and often without 
much comprehension on the part of the class. 
The teacher who has nothing of his own to add 
is incapable of teaching in the true sense of the 
word. At best he can only test as to the prepara- 
tion from the textbook. 

b. Dangers from the lecture method. — While we 
justly condemn the teacher who has nothing of 
his own to add to the recitation, we must not 
forget that there is a danger on the other side. 
Ask any assemblage of teachers how many think 
that, in general, their own teachers used to talk 
too much in the recitation, thereby monopolizing 
the time, and two thirds will blame their former 
teachers for over-using the lecture method. Most 
people, when they are sure of an audience, like 
to talk, and probably teachers are no exception 
to the rule. 

The teacher who is full of information and 
47 



THE RECITATION 

enthusiasm for the recitation is led by this very 
fact into temptation. Some point in the lesson 
suggests an interesting story or illustration, or 
some additional bit of information, and the teacher 
starts to tell it to the class. He becomes himself 
so interested in it that the lesson is forgotten 
and the class period ended long before the story 
is completed. This may do occasionally ; but, once 
it becomes a habit, it is fatal to good teaching. 
The recitation as prepared by the class should be 
the chief interest of the class period. The teacher 
must learn to supplement without monopolizing. 

7. The written recitatioji 

The written recitation can hardly be called a 
method, since it can be itself applied to any or 
all of the methods of reciting. Like all other 
methods, the written recitation has its strong 
points of excellence and also its dangers. 

a. The use of the written recitation. — Th e writ- 
ten recitation is especially useful in cases where all 
of the class should recite upon all of the lesson. 
It is easy to see that by having each of a class 
of ten answer ten questions, a far larger amount 

48 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

of answering is done in the aggregate than if only 
one could answer at a time, as in oral recitation. 
There are certain kinds of knowledge that are 
seldom used except in writing. For example, we 
are never called upon to spell or to use letter 
forms, business forms, punctuation marks, etc., 
except in writing. It is safe to say that matter 
of such kinds should usually be taught by hav- 
ing it written. 

The written recitation also leads to accuracy 
and precision of thought and expression. We all 
formulate more carefully what we write than 
what we speak. 

The written recitation also gives an opportun- 
ity for training in verbal expression. Every per- 
son needs to be able to express himself easily and 
forcibly in writing. But this requires much prac- 
tice, and there is no better practice than in formu- 
lating in writing the thoughts of the daily lessons. 
b. Dangers in the use of the written method. — 
Valuable as the written method is, there are cer- 
tain cautions to be observed in its use. 

This method does not ordinarily possess the 
interest and spontaneity of the oral recitation. 
49 



THE RECITATION 

There is no opportunity for the teacher to sup- 
plement with points brought in. Misconceptions 
are not cleared up in the minds of the pupils, at 
least during that recitation period, unless the 
written papers are read at once. Usually time 
does not permit this. Many children do not like 
to write, and hence find the lesson tiresome, es- 
pecially if continued for a whole class period. 

The amount of writing required of children 
may be too great. Few pupils can write long at 
a time without eye-strain, muscle cramp, and bad 
bodily positions. Where this is the case, over- 
fatigue results if the amount of written work re- 
quired is large. It is not unusual to find schools 
in which children are required to spend almost 
half of their school hours in some form of written 
work. This is a serious mistake both education- 
ally and from the standpoint of health. 

There is also still another side of the matter 
to consider. One of the great advantages of writ- 
ten work is that the pupil may have his errors 
shown him, so that he may reflect upon them 
and correct them. But not infrequently, where 
the amount of written work is too large, the er- 
50 



THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

rors are not carefully corrected by the teacher, 
and not corrected at all by the pupil. This is 
why many pupils will keep on making the same 
error time after time on their papers. The cor- 
rection has not sufficiently impressed them. 

All written work, with perhaps rare excep- 
tions, should be carefully gone over by the 
teacher, and all serious or oft-repeated errors 
corrected by the pupils who make them. Not 
infrequently may children be seen to glance over 
a paper upon which the teacher has put precious 
time and some red ink in making corrections, 
and then crumple the paper and throw it into the 
waste basket. Sometimes this is done in sheer 
carelessness, and sometimes in petulance be- 
cause of the many corrections. This is all a loss of 
time and opportunity. The teacher should have 
tact enough to show the pupils that corrections 
are made on their papers for their benefit, and 
not as a punishment. And then the pupils should 
take the trouble to correct the errors, that they 
may not occur again. Better a thousand times 
correct carefully an old paper than write a new 
one containing the same errors. 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 



Ill 

THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

I. The importance of good questioning 

Skill in the art of questioning lies at the basis 
of all good teaching. When we were children 
it looked so easy for the teacher to sit and ask 
the questions which we were expected to an- 
swer. When we become teachers we find that 
it is much harder to ask the questions than to 
answer them. For to question well, one must 
not only know the subject thoroughly, but 
must also constantly interpret the mind of the 
pupil to discover what question next to ask, 
and whether he is mastering what we are teach- 
ing him. 

Good questioning stimulates thought, leads to 
inquiry, and results in understanding and mas- 
tery. Poor questioning leaves the mental powers 
unawakened, cripples thought, and results in in- 
efficiency and lack of mastery. 
55 



THE RECITATION 

2. Need of fundamental principles 

Good questioning is dependent upon the 
teacher's having a firm command of a few es- 
sential principles which apply to all questioning 
used in teaching. The teacher's constant self- 
criticism in the light of these will greatly im- 
prove his control of discussion in the class room. 

3. The principle of freedom from textbooks 

The questions of the recitation must of course 
deal with the matter of the textbook and be 
directly suggested by it. Yet there are two dan- 
gers to be avoided in this connection : (i) Ques- 
tions should not follow the language of the text, 
and (2) the teacher should not be dependent on 
the textbook to suggest the question itself or to 
determine the correctness of the answer. 

The teacher who has not the lesson well pre- 
pared, or who is mentally lazy, has a constant 
temptation to ask questions in the words of the 
book. This is much easier than to know the sub- 
ject and the textbook both well enough to 
formulate original, appropriate questions. An 
56 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

illustration of what is meant is found in the fol- 
lowing account of a recitation conducted from 
"Montgomery's American History," the lesson 
being on the landing of the Pilgrims (pp. TJ, 

78):- 
Q, On a morning late in November, what did 

the Pilgrims do ? 

A. They sighted Cape Cod. 

Q. Two days later, where did the Mayflower 
come to anchor } 

A. In Provincetown Harbor. 

Q. While the Mayflower remained at anchor, 
what did Captain Standish and a boatload of men 
do.? 

A. They went out to explore. 

Q. On the shore of Plymouth harbor what is 
there lying } 

A. A granite bowlder. 

It is seen that each of these questions follows 
the words of the text, and that the answer but 
completes the sentence of which the question is 
a part. Questions of this kind only suggest to 
the memory the statement of the text, and do 
not cause the pupil to use his own thought in 
57 



THE RECITATION 

realizing the actual event. Hence they arouse 
little interest and leave little impression. They 
traiii the verbal memory, but leave imagination, 
thought, and understanding untouched. How 
much better such questions as these : — 

When did the Pilgrims first sight land .? 

What land did they see .? 

What was its appearance ? 

Have you ever seen a stretch of shore like 
this one ? 

Why did not the Pilgrims land at this point ? 

Where did they finally anchor ? 

What measures did they take to see whether 
this was a suitable place to land ? 

Why is the name ** Plymouth Rock" so famous 
in American history ? 

These questions cover just the same ground 
as the ones above, but they suggest living pic- 
tures and actual events rather than the language 
of the textbook. 

The unprepared or lazy teacher is also in dan- 
ger of relying on the textbook for his questions 
even when he does not formulate them in the 
language of the printed page. Not infrequently 
58 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

teachers conduct the whole of a recitation with 
the text open before them, hardly taking their 
eyes from the book, and seeming to have no in- 
spiration or questions not immediately gleaned 
from the page before them. In extreme cases of 
unpreparedness they may even have to test the 
correctness of the answers given by the class by 
reference to the text. Of course this is all the 
highest degree of inefficiency. It should not be 
called teaching at all, for no one can teach an- 
other that which he does not himself possess as 
a part of his own mental equipment. Nothing 
can be more deadening to a class than to see a 
teacher, whom they look upon as their intellec- 
tual leader, floundering in such a vain attempt to 
teach something that he does not himself know. 
The eyes and the mind of the teacher must 
both be free in the recitation — the eyes to look 
interest and encouragement into the eyes of the 
class, the mind to marshal the points of the les- 
son and watch the effects of their presentation 
on the minds of the pupils. A recitation at its 
best consists of an animated and interesting con- 
versation between teacher and class. And no 
59 



THE RECITATION 

conversation can be live and interesting when 
one of its participants has mind and eyes riveted 
to a book ; for conversation involves an inter- 
change of expression, of spirit, and of personal- 
ity as well as of words. 

It is not meant that a teacher must never have 
a textbook open before him during a recitation. 
Often it is not only desirable, but necessary that 
he should do so ; but only for suggestion and re- 
ference, and never to supply questions and test 
answers. 

It is certainly much better to have the textbook 
before one than to teach the lesson after a discon- 
nected and haphazard fashion from lack of famil- 
iarity with its points. An excellent substitute for 
the text, however, is an outline, or plan of the les- 
son embodying the main points, illustrations, and 
applications to be made. Such an outline will save 
the teacher from wandering too far afield in the 
discussions, will insure unity in the lesson, and 
make certain that important points shall not be 
overlooked. 

A desirable rule for the teacher to set for him- 
self would be so to prepare for the recitation by 
60 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

mastery of the subject, and by lesson plan or out- 
line, that ke does not need to have the textbook 
open before him when the pupils do not also have 
their books open. The teacher who will heroically 
meet this standard will soon find growing in him- 
self a feeling of mastery of his subjects and of joy 
in his teaching. 

4. The principle of unity or continuity in questions 

Questions should be so planned that they de- 
velop or bring out the unity of the lesson. It is 
possible for questions to be so haphazard and dis- 
connected that the pupil receives the impression 
of a series of unrelated facts, rather than a uni- 
fied and related subject. In good questioning, one 
question naturally grows out of another, so that 
the series develops step by step the truth con- 
tained in the lesson, and brings it to the mind of 
the child as a complete whole. 

This means that the teacher must know the 
whole subject so thoroughly that the right ques- 
tions come to him easily and naturally, and in the 
right order to bring out the successive steps of 
the lesson in their logical relations. 
61 



THE RECITATION 

The difference between a related series of ques- 
tions and an unrelated is shown in two lists which 
follow. Both deal with the same subject-matter, 
a physiology lesson on respiration. The questions 
of the first list are not themselves faulty, but there 
is no continuity among them ; one does not grow 
out of another so as to "develop" the subject in 
the minds of the class. 

What change takes place in the air while in the 
lungs > 

What change takes place in the blood while in 
the lungs ? 

How many cubic inches of air will the lungs 
contain ? 

How much of this cannot be expelled by breath- 
ing out } 

How many times do we naturally breathe in a 
minute > 

What are some of the effects of breathing im- 
pure air.? 

How is the oxygen carried by the blood? 

What is animal heat } 

What is the temperature of the body ? 

These questions were all answered fairly well 
62 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

by the class, but the answers contained only so 
many bits of isolated information, and the pupils 
did not understand the subject after they had re- 
cited upon it. Another teacher asked the follow- 
ing questions : 

Why must the body have air to breathe? 

Of what use is oxygen in the body ? 

Where does this oxidization, or burning up of 
worn-out cells, take place ? 

But how is the oxygen carried to every part of 
the body and brought into contact with the tis- 
sues ? 

Where do the corpuscles of the blood get their 
loads of oxygen ? 

What gas do they give up in exchange for the 
oxygen ? 

Where do they get the carbon dioxide ? 

How does air entering the lungs differ from air 
leaving them ? 

What corresponding change takes place in the 
blood while it is in the lungs ? 

Explain how the change is effected in each case. 

Suppose we breathe air that contains too little 
oxygen, what will be the effect on the corpuscles ? 

6i 



THE RECITATION 

What will be the effect on oxidization in the 
tissues ? 

And what is the effect of poor oxidization on 
physical vitality ? 

On mental vitality? 

The class that answered these questions not 
only had the information belonging to each sep- 
arate question, but also understood the lesson as 
a whole, because each question grew out of the 
ones that preceded it, thus making the recitation 
a unified whole. 

5. The principle of clearness 

Questions must be made clear, so that their 
meaning may be understood. This is not always 
an easy task, and the teacher frequently misses 
being wholly clear. This is evidenced by the fact 
that often when a pupil fails to answer a question 
asked in one way, he can answer it easily when 
the wording is changed. This means that the dif- 
ficulty for the pupil existed in the question, and 
not in the answer. 

Clearness in questioning involves three factors : 
(i) Freedom from ambiguity or obscurity of word- 
64 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

ing; (2) adaptation to the age and understanding 
of the pupil ; (3) reasonable brevity. 

a. Freedom from ambiguity or obscurity of 
wording. — This is fundamentally a matter of the 
use of good English. It requires such a choice 
and arrangement of words and clauses that there 
can be no doubt as to the meaning to be conveyed. 
Assuming a fair command of the language and 
care in its use, the basis of clearness at this point 
is thorough mastery of the subject-matter of the 
questions, so that the teacher himself understands 
clearly just what he means to ask. 

The following illustrations show some ques- 
tions that are faulty from the standpoint of ob- 
scurity of meaning : — 

What caused Lincoln to issue the Emancipation 
Proclamation in 1863.-* (Not clear whether ques- 
tion means why did he issue the Emancipation 
Proclamation at all, or why did he issue it in 1863 
instead of at some other time.) 

What are the effects of attention to a moving 
object.^ (Not clear whether question means ef- 
fects on the person attending or the effect which 
the moving of an object has in making itself seen.) 

65 



THE RECITATION 

Who chased whom down what valley? 

Why has a cat fur and a duck feathers ? 

b. Adaptation to the age and understanding of 
the child. — Questions that are perfectly clear to 
an adult may be hazy or incomprehensible to a 
child because he does not understand the terms 
used in the question, or because it deals with mat- 
ters beyond his grasp. The teacher must keep 
within the vocabulary of the child in formulating 
his questions. Where it is necessary or desirable 
to introduce new words into questions, care must 
be taken that the child knows fully the meaning 
of the new terms. A teacher asked a class in ele- 
mentary physiology, ''What measures would you 
take to resuscitate a person asphyxiated with car- 
bon dioxid.?" The class all looked blank. No one 
seemed to know what to do. It chanced that the 
superintendent was visiting the school, and he 
said to the teacher, "■ Let me try." Then he asked 
the class, "What would you do for a person who 
had been smothered by breathing coal gas "> " The 
class brightened up, and every hand was raised 
indicating readiness to answer the question. 

Another teacher bewildered his class by asking, 
66 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

"Which phenomena of the fratricidal strife in the 
American Republic were most determinative of 
the ultimate fate of the nation?" No one knew. 
Had he asked his question in plain terms, no doubt 
the class could have answered it. 

In an elementary history class, a teacher pro- 
pounded this question : " What American institu- 
tions have been founded on the principle of social 
democracy ? " Not only the terms of the question, 
but the thought also is beyond the comprehension 
of children. Such questions are not only useless 
as a means of testing, teaching, or drilling, but 
serve to confuse and discourage the child, and 
cause him to lose interest in school. 

c. Brevity. — No matter how well a question 
is worded, or how well it is adapted to the age 
and capacity of the pupil, it may fail in clearness 
because it is too long and disjointed, or because it 
deals with too many points. Far better break a 
complicated question up into several simple ones, 
concerning whose meaning there can be no doubt. 

A teacher who had not yet mastered the art of 
questioning asked his physiology class a question 
somewhat like this : " Do you consider it advis- 

67 



THE RECITATION 

able, taking into account the fact that none of the 
vital processes go on as vigorously during sleep 
as during the waking hours (you remember that 
the breathing and the pulse are less rapid and the 
temperature of the body also lower), to eat just 
before retiring at night, especially if one is very 
tired and exhausted — a condition which still fur- 
ther lowers the vitality and hence decreases the 
powers of digestion and assimilation, and would 
your answer be different if it is understood that 
the food taken is to be light and easily digested ?" 
It is needless to say that the class found them- 
selves lost in the maze of conditions and paren- 
thetical expressions and did not attempt an answer. 
The question contains material for a dozen differ- 
ent questions, and probably the class could have 
answered them all had they been properly asked. 

6. The principle of definiteness 

Questions should be definite, so that they can 
have but one meaning. It is possible to ask a 
question so that its general meaning is clear 
enough, but so that its precise meaning is in 
doubt. Such questions leave the pupil puzzled, 
6Z 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

and usually lead to indirectness or guessing in the 
answer. Failure to make questions definite, so 
that they can have but one meaning is responsible 
for much of the difference of opinion on disputed 
questions. 

Many a stock question upon which amateur 
debating societies have exercised their talents 
would admit of no debate at all, if once the ques- 
tion were made definite. For the ground for de- 
bate lies in the difference in interpretation of the 
question and not in the facts themselves. For 
example : If a cannon ball were to be fired off 
by some mechanical device a million miles from 
where there was any ear to hear, would there be 
any sound } The lack of definiteness here which 
permits difference of opinion lies in the word 
"sound." If we add after the word "sound" the 
phrase, " in the sense of a conscious auditory sen- 
sation," the answer would obviously be. No, since 
there can be no auditory sensation without an ear 
to hear it. If, on the other hand, instead of the 
above phrase we add, "in the sense of wave- 
vibrations in the air," the answer will obviously 
be, Yes, since the wave-vibrations in the air do 

69 



THE RECITATION 

not depend on the presence of an ear to be affected 
by them. 

Likewise, in the question, If a man starts to walk 
around a squirrel which is clinging to the limb of 
a tree, and if, as the man circles the tree, the 
squirrel also circles the tree so that he constantly 
faces the man, when the man has gone completely 
around the tree, has he gone around the squirrel ? 
Here the indefiniteness lies in the meaning of to 
" go around." With this indefiniteness remedied, 
there is no longer any possibility of difference of 
opinion. 

Indefiniteness may come from the use of cer- 
tain words that from their very nature are in- 
definite in meaning. Such are the verbs be^ doy 
havcy become, happen, and the prepositions ^and 
about. Examples of indefiniteness growing out of 
such colorless words are found in the following 
questions, which are types of many asked in our 
schools daily : — 

What does water do when heated } (Expands, 
evaporates, boils.) 

What happens when it lightnings.? (Thunder, 
discharge of electricity, flash.) 
70 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

What must immigrants coming into this coun- 
try have ? (Money, freedom from disease, char- 
acter.) 

What did Arnold become ? (A traitor, a British 
general, an outcast, a repentant man.) 

What is the cow } (A mammal, a quadruped, 
a producer of milk, butter, and beef ; an herbivor- 
ous animal.) 

What about the Monroe Doctrine } (A dozen 
different things.) 

What ^the animals in the temperate zone } 

Questions may be so general as to be inde- 
finite. The teacher asks, "Where is Chicago.?" 
The class may answer, "In Illinois on Lake 
Michigan ; in North America; in Cook County." 
The teacher should know just what answer he de- 
sires, and then ask, "In what State ; on what con- 
tinent ; on what lake ; or in what county } " 

Other illustrations of vagueness coming from 
the use of words of too general a meaning are 
found in such questions as. What kind of man 
was George Washington } 

When does a person need food ? 

How does tobacco grow ? 
71 



THE RECITATION 

What do birds like ? 

All indefinite questions deserve and usually re- 
ceive an indefinite answer, and hence lead to and 
encourage guessing. If the answers to such ques- 
tions as the above are not indefinite, they must 
be purely memoriter, merely reproducing the 
words of the text without comprehension of any 
real meaning. 

Indefinite questioning usually comes from a 
lack of clear thinking on the part of the ques- 
tioner. The teacher himself does not know pre- 
cisely what he means to ask, and hence cannot 
be definite. It is safe to say that the teacher's 
questions covering a subject will never be any 
more clear or definite than the subject itself is 
in his mind. Indeed it is hard for one to be 
wholly definite in questioning even when he is 
a perfect master of his subject. Certainly, then, 
eternal vigilance will be the price of clearness 
and definiteness on the part of the young teacher 
who is as yet striving for mastery of what he is 
teaching. 



72 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

7. Secondary principles of good questiojting 

Besides the foregoing fundamental principles 
underlying the art of questioning, there are a few 
secondary principles, some of which are of hardly 
less importance : — 

1. Questions should be asked naturally, and in 
a conversational tone, and not explosively de- 
manded of pupils. 

2. Usually the question should be addressed 
to the entire class and, after all have had a moment 
to think, some one then designated to answer. 
The reason for this is obvious. If the one who is 
to answer is designated before the question is 
asked, the incentive to the rest of the class to 
think the answer is greatly lessened. 

3. No regular order should be followed in call- 
ing on pupils. If such an order is established, the 
lazy and uninterested ones have a tendency to 
remain inactive until called upon. By the hit-and- 
miss method of calling no one knows at what 
moment he may be the next one, hence there is 
a strong incentive to attend to the lesson. It is 
also desirable to call on a pupil occasionally the 

73 



THE RECITATION 

second time very soon after he has previously 
been called upon. This prevents him from think- 
ing that as soon as he has recited once he can 
then safely relax his attention. 

4. Inattentive or mischievous pupils should be 
the mark for frequent questions. If it comes to 
be known that any inattention is sure to bring 
questions to the pupil at fault, the battle for at- 
tention is half won. There is a strong tendency 
on the part of the teacher to ask for the answer 
to a question from those whose eyes show that 
they are attentive and ready with an answer. 
While this readiness and attention should be re- 
warded by giving an opportunity to answer, it 
must not lead the teacher to neglect those who 
may need the question more than the more ready 
ones. The questions should be impartially dis- 
tributed among the bright and the dull pupils. 

5. It is highly important that questions shall 
be asked so that they demand thought in answer- 
ing, and usually so that the answer must be given 
in a full statement. Seldom should a question be 
asked in such form that a simple Yes or No will 
answer it. This does not require sufficient 

74 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

thought on the part of the pupil, it permits guess- 
work, and fails to cultivate ability in expression. 
Answers that may be given in a word or two, 
or by Yes or No, may be accepted in rapid drill 
or review work, and also in the inductive ques- 
tioning used in developing a new subject, but 
should be used very sparingly in other places in 
the recitation. 

6. The "pumping" question should not be 
used. In this type of question, the teacher form- 
ulates the answer and leaves only the key word 
for the pupil to supply. The teacher sometimes 
goes so far as to suggest the necessary word by 
pronouncing the first syllable or two of it. A 
dialogue like the following was heard in one 
school : — 

Q. ** Columbus was an ? " 

A. "Explorer." 

Q. *'No, he was an It ?" 

A. "Oh, an Italian." 

Such an attempt at teaching would be amus- 
ing, were it not so serious for the child. 



n 



THE RECITATION 

8. The treatment of answers 

The teacher's treatment of the answers given 
is of hardly less importance than the formulation 
of the questions themselves. It is to be remem- 
bered that the recitation is an interchange of 
thought and expression between teacher and 
class. To this end, the response must be mutual. 
Not alone when the question is being asked 
is the teacher to be animated and interested, 
but likewise while the answer is being given. 
It is neither good pedagogy nor good manners 
for a teacher to sit unresponsive and inatten- 
tive when a pupil is reciting. Not that the 
teacher needs always to comment on an answer, 
or say that it is correct ; it is rather a matter of 
manner, of attention and interest to the answer. 
We find it embarrassing either in a recitation or 
out of it to talk to a person who seems not to be 
listening. 

Right at this point, however, there lurks an 
insidious danger. It comes easily and naturally 
to one to give some sign of assent or disapproval 
as to the correctness of the answer while it is 

76 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

being spoken. The slightest inclination of the 
head, the dropping of the eyelids, or a certain 
expression of the face, comes to be read by the 
pupil as a signboard to guide him in his state- 
ments. This is, of course, all wrong. The teacher 
should give absolutely no sign while the answer 
is going on. Thus to help the child leads him to 
depend on the teacher instead of relying on 
his own knowledge. It leads to guessing, and so 
skillful does this sometimes become that a bright 
but unprepared pupil is able to steer through 
a recitation guided by the unsuspecting teacher. 
Answers should not be repeated by the teacher. 
This is a very common fault, and a habit that is 
usually acquired before the teacher is aware of 
it. The tendency to repeat answers probably 
arises at first from a mental unreadiness on the 
part of the teacher. He has not his next question 
quite ready, and so bridges over the interval by 
saying over the answer just given by the pupil. 
It is a method of gaining time, but really finally 
results in great loss of time in the recitation. By 
actual count, many teachers have been found to 
repeat as many as 75/0 of the answers given in 
77 



THE RECITATION 

the recitation. Besides the great waste of time, 
the repetition of answers is a source of distrac- 
tion and annoyance to pupils. No one enjoys 
having his words said over after him constantly. 
Of course answers may sometimes need to be 
repeated to emphasize some important point. 
But when repetition has become a habit, no em- 
phasis is gained by the repetition. 

Finally, answers should be required in good 
English, clear and definite, like the questions. 
Pupils who say, "An improper fraction is 'where* 
the numerator is greater than the denominator " ; 
"A compound sentence is 'when' it has two or 
more independent clauses," should be led to re- 
state their answers in clear and correct language. 



CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO 
A GOOD RECITATION 



u 



IV 



CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO 
A GOOD RECITATION 

We have now discussed the aim of the recita- 
tion, its methods, and the principles governing 
the art of questioning. But no matter how well 
defined the aim for the recitation, no matter 
how excellent its method, no matter how skilled 
the teacher may be in the art of questioning, 
these things alone cannot make a good recitation. 
Certain other fundamental conditions must ob- 
tain if the recitation is to be a success. Let us 
now discuss the more important of these con- 
ditions. 

I. Freedom from dish'actions 

Distractions of any nature result in a double 
waste. First, a waste of power through prevent- 
ing concentration and continuity of thought. 
Try as hard as one may, he cannot secure the 
best results from his mental effort, if his stream 
8i 



THE RECITATION 

of thought is being broken in upon. The loss by 
this process is comparable to that involved in 
running a train of cars, stopping it every ten rods 
instead of every ten or every one hundred miles. 
But this form of waste is not all. There is also 
a serious waste of interest and enthusiasm re- 
sulting from interrupted recitations. Every 
teacher has at times felt the sudden drop in at- 
tention and interest on the part of the class 
after some interruption which took the minds of 
the class off the subject. Try as hard as the 
teacher may, it is impossible to go back to the 
same level of efficiency after such a break. The 
following show some of the chief sources of dis- 
tractions : — 

a. Distractions by the teacher. — Strange as it 
may seem, many teachers are to be criticised on 
this point. Any striking feature or peculiarity of 
manner, dress, or carriage which attracts the 
attention of the class is a distraction. A loud or 
ill-modulated voice, tones too low or indistinct 
to be heard well, the habit of walking up and 
down the aisles or back and forth before the 
class, assuming awkward positions standing or 
82 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

sitting before the class — these are all personal 
factors which the teacher needs to keep con- 
stantly under surveillance. 

The teacher may also distract the class by 
answering questions asked by the pupils at their 
seats, or by rebuking misdemeanors seen among 
those not in the recitation. Most of such inter- 
ruptions are wholly unnecessary, and could be 
avoided by a little foresight and management. 
The lesson should be so clearly assigned that the 
pupils can have no excuse to ask later about the 
assignment, and then there should be a penalty 
for forgetting it. The drinks of water should be 
had and the errands attended to between classes. 
The pencils should be supplied and sharpened 
before the session begins. The mischievous cul- 
prits should be taught that it is a serious offense 
to interrupt a recitation. The teacher who per- 
mits these distractions by the school has not yet 
learned the secret of good management, and 
could hardly advertise his inefficiency in this re- 
gard any more effectively than by permitting 
such interruptions to continue. 

It is also possible for the teacher to distract 

83 



THE RECITATION 

the person reciting by interrupting when there 
is a slight pause to think of the next point, or a 
hesitation before pronouncing a word. Teachers 
sometimes even interrupt a pupil who is reciting 
and themselves offer explanations, make remarks, 
or continue the discussion, leaving the child 
standing and not knowing whether he is excused 
or not. Of course this is bad manners on the 
part of the teacher, and it is even worse peda- 
gogy. It is not encouraging to the pupil to feel 
that he may be interrupted at any moment, and 
few can think clearly or recite well when ex- 
pecting such interruptions. The pupil should not 
expect to be allowed to think out a lesson or a 
point when he is reciting, which he should have 
thought out before coming to class. On the 
other hand, the teacher must remember that the 
child's mind is working on what to him is new 
and difficult matter, and hence cannot move as 
rapidly as the teacher's. 

b. Distractions by the class. — Inattention, rest- 
lessness, and mischief are great sources of dis- 
traction from the class themselves. All these 
things have a tendency to be contagious, and in 
84 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

any case always break in upon the train of 
thought of the recitation. Because of this the 
teacher must win the inattentive and restless, 
and must check the restless, if he would save his 
recitation. 

Not infrequently, in the more elementary 
classes, a certain kind of distraction is fostered 
and encouraged by the teacher with the aim of 
securing the attention of the whole class to the 
one who is reciting. This form of distraction 
consists in having the whole class watch the one 
who is reciting, and, if they observe an error in 
the recitation, at once raise their hands, when 
the one reciting must stop. This is a mistake 
from almost every standpoint, and has very lit- 
tle to redeem it. It may result in closer atten- 
tion on the part of the class ; but the motive 
which prompts the attention is bad. It leads 
to elation and rejoicing over the mistakes and 
failures of another, and it centres attention on 
the mistakes rather than on the facts to be 
brought out. Attention should be trained so that 
it will not have to depend on this kind of motive, 
and the memory should be trained to note and 
85 



THE RECITATION 

hold a correction until the one reciting has 
finished. Further, it is a most serious distraction 
to the one who is reciting to be expecting that 
a forest of hands may at any moment be wildly 
waving about his ears, gleefully announcing that 
he has made an error. Condemnation of this 
method of securing attention can hardly be too 
severe. 

c. Distractions by the school — In any busy 
school there is bound to be more or less of hum 
and confusion. In many schools, however, there 
is much more than is warranted. It is true that 
children get tired of sitting still for an entire ses- 
sion, and that they find relief in going for a drink, 
or going to the dictionary, or on some other 
errand about the room. In some schools, one or 
more pupils may be found walking about the 
room at almost any time of the day, and not in- 
frequently several are on errands at the same 
time. This, as previously noted, is usually a fault 
in management on the part of the teacher. The 
larger part of these interruptions can just as well 
be saved by a little foresight and firmness. 

Some teachers even leave the class which they 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

are hearing to answer questions or give help to 
pupils in the school who have not been trained 
to wait for their requests until the class is dis- 
missed. Usually, only a very small percentage of 
these questions should have been asked at all, or 
would have been with the proper management 
of the school. And all the necessary questions 
and requests should almost without exception be 
held for the interval between recitations. The 
school should be taught that nothing short of the 
direst necessity will warrant asking a question or 
making a request during a recitation. 

Likewise in the case of misdemeanors. The 
class which is reciting should not be interrupted 
for minor misdemeanors which occur during 
the recitation. This does not mean that the 
misdemeanor is to go by unnoticed. On the 
contrary, the settlement for it may be all the 
more severe for having to wait until the class 
is dismissed. 

d. Physical distractions. — Distractions from 
the physical environment may be of several 
kinds. 

Not infrequently, especially in the older school- 
87 



THE RECITATION 

houses, the seats are so placed with reference to 
windows that the light strikes the eyes of the 
pupils, instead of the pages of the books ; or it 
may be that a stray sunbeam strikes athwart the 
class and dazzles the eyes. It need hardly be sug- 
gested that no such distraction as this should 
go unremedied. 

In the rural schools the recitation seats are 
often near the stove, where the temperature be- 
comes unbearably hot when the stove must be 
generously fired to heat the remainder of the 
room. Not infrequently the ventilation is bad, 
and the room is filled with foul air, from which 
the major part of the oxygen has been exhausted. 
No matter how good the intentions of the class 
or how zealous the teacher, such conditions will 
kill the recitation. 

Whatever may be the cause of physical dis- 
comfort or unrest should be remedied. One's 
body should be so comfortable and healthy that 
it does not attract attention to itself, except 
when needing food or other care, and it is the 
duty of the school to do all possible to bring 
this condition about. 

S8 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

2. Interest and enthusiasm 

Interest is the foundation of all mental activity. 
Its very nature is to lead to thought and ac- 
tion. Grown ardent, interest becomes enthusiasm, 
"without which," says Emerson, " nothing great 
was ever accomplished." On the other hand, the 
absence of interest leaves the pupil lifeless and 
inert mentally, his work a bore and achievement 
impossible. Interest is, therefore, a first consid- 
eration in the recitation. 

Interest is contagious. No one ever saw an 
interested and enthusiastic teacher with a dull 
and lifeless class. Nor can interest and enthu- 
siasm on the part of a class continue in the 
presence of a mechanical and lifeless teacher. 
The teacher is the model, and he sets the stand- 
ard and pace for his class. Unconsciously the 
pupils come, under the influence of the teacher's 
personality, to reflect his type of mind and atti- 
tude toward the work of the school. The teacher's 
interest and vivacity in the recitation depend on 
many factors, some of which are largely under 
his own control. 

89 



THE RECITATION 

a. The teacher s com^nand of the subject-mat- 
ter of the recitation. — A teacher whose grasp of 
the lesson is doubtful, who does not feel sure 
that he is a master of all its points, who fears that 
questions may be asked that he cannot answer 
or points raised that he cannot explain, can 
hardly possess an attitude of true interest toward 
the recitation. His mind is too full of worry and 
strain and embarrassment. He lacks the sense 
of ease and freedom which comes from a feeling 
of mastery. 

Command of the subject-matter of the recita- 
tion depends, 7?rj/ on the teacher's general mas- 
tery of the branch, and, second^ on being freshly 
prepared upon it. It behooves every young 
teacher, therefore, to strive for mastery as he 
teaches. 

But no matter how good the preliminary pre- 
paration, this cannot take the place of the fresh 
daily review, which gives the mind a new readi- 
ness and grasp on the subject. Let the teachers 
who feel that their recitations are slow and dull, 
seek the cause first of all in their own lack of 
preparation in one of the two lines mentioned. 
90 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

b. The teacher s attitude toward his work. — 
If the teacher looks upon teaching as a mechani- 
cal process ; if he looks on the recitation as 
" hearing the class recite " ; if he realizes nothing 
of the opportunities and responsibilities con- 
nected with teaching children, then he can com- 
mand little interest and no enthusiasm. If, on 
the other hand, teaching is to the teacher a joy ; 
if he loves to watch the minds of children unfold; 
if he rejoices in his opportunities and responsi- 
bilities as a teacher, then he is sure to develop 
an interest which will soon intensify with enthu- 
siasm. 

c. The teacher s health. — All have experi- 
enced the mental depression and lack of interest 
in things which comes from over-fatigue. The 
most interesting occupation palls on us when we 
are fagged, or when our vitality is low from de- 
rangement of health. A case of indigestion may 
sweep us out of our usual cheery mood into a 
mood of discouragement and pessimism. Frayed 
nerves and an ill-nourished or exhausted brain are 
fatal to enthusiasm. 

Teaching is found to be a very trying occupa- 
91 



THE RECITATION 

tion on the general health, and particularly on the 
nervous system. Many girls break down or de- 
velop a chronic nervous trouble in a few years in 
the schoolroom. The combined work and worry 
prove too much for their strength ; and not infre- 
quently, also, the teacher who boards and carries 
a cold luncheon to school fails to securethe right 
kind of food. This is especially true in the rural 
schools. Farmers have enough to eat, but often 
the food suitable for men engaged in heavy manual 
labor is wholly unsuited for one who works with 
the brain and does not have a large amount of 
out-door exercise. 

Nor do teachers always secure enough pure 
air. The air of schoolrooms is usually vitiated to 
such a degree that one on coming in from the 
out-door air can detect a foul odor. But the air of 
a room ceases to be fit to breathe long before an 
odor can be detected from its impurities. 

These are some of the chief factors which are 
proving so fatal to the health of many of our 
teachers, and to interest and enthusiasm on the 
part of the teacher in his work. Both for the 
sake of his health and his work, every teacher 
92 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

should seek to control these three factors as far 
as possible. Strain and worry and wear of nerves 
can be greatly lessened by careful planning of 
work, by good organization and careful manage- 
ment, and by exercise of the will to prohibit worry 
over matters large or small when worry will not 
help solve them. The teacher can in some degree 
determine what food he will eat, even if it means 
a change of boarding-place. And surely every 
teacher can control the supply of fresh air for the 
schoolroom and his bedroom, and this is perhaps 
the most important of all. 

d. Experience. — The young teacher, without 
experience, may from sheer embarrassment and 
lack of mastery fail to show the enthusiasm which 
he feels, for embarrassment of any kind and en- 
thusiasm do not thrive well together. But if the 
teacher is really fundamentally interested in his 
teaching, the enthusiasm will soon come. And 
better a thousand times the young teacher who is 
earnestly fighting for freedom and mastery in the 
recitation, than the old teacher who has grown 
wearied of the routine and has made out of the 
recitation a machine process. 
93 



THE RECITATION 

3. Well-mastered lessons 

Probably the worst of all drawbacks to good 
recitations is poorly prepared lessons. One of the 
greatest criticisms to which our educational sys- 
tem is open is that teachers try to teach and 
pupils try to recite lessons which are badly or in- 
differently prepared by both. There is nothing 
more stupefying to the mind, or more fatal to in- 
terest in school work than the halting, stumbling, 
ineffective recitations heard in many schools. 
Teachers who try to teach lessons with which 
they are not thoroughly familiar are but bhnd 
leaders of the blind, and both they and their pupils 
are sure to fall into the ditch. 

a. Preparation by the teacher. — The teacher 
is the key to the situation. If he himself lacks in 
preparation, he can neither lead nor compel his 
pupils to the preparation of their lessons. He sets 
the standard. A stream does not rise higher than 
its source. 

The teacher's preparation has two different as- 
pects : (i) The general fundamental knowledge 
of the subject as a whole obtained by previous 
94 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

study; and (2) the daily preparation by study, 
thought, or reading for the recitation. 

In general it is safe to say that teachers enter 
upon their vocation without sufficient education. 
Our certificate requirements are low, and many 
enter upon teaching with little or no more school- 
ing than that obtained in the schools where they 
begin teaching. Of course this is radically wrong, 
but it is the fault of our school system and not of 
the teacher. It behooves teachers entering upon 
their work with this scanty preparation to recog- 
nize their limitations, however, and to do their best 
to remedy them. Low grade of certificate, low 
standings in any branches, or the teacher's own 
consciousness of lack of mastery should be suffi- 
cient to send the sincere and earnest teacher to 
school again, even if this must be to summer 
schools instead of longer sessions. This sacrifice 
will not only pay abundantly in higher salary, but 
also in greater teaching power and in the sense 
of greater mastery and personal growth. 

But no amount of preparation in a branch will 
relieve a teacher of the necessity of daily prepara- 
tion for the recitation. Dr. Arnold expressed this 
95 



THE RECITATION 

thought when he said : " I prefer that my pupils 
shall drink from a running stream, rather than 
from a stagnant pool." In order that one may 
develop a line of thought easily it must h^ fresh 
in his mind ; it is not enough that he has once 
known it well. One of the master teachers of our 
country, a university professor who is recognized 
as a great authority in his chosen subject, Latin, 
recently said to a group of Latin teachers: "I 
have taught Cicero for twenty years, until I know 
it by heart. But yet, every day, one hour before 
the time for my Cicero class, I go to my study 
and spend an hour with Cicero, just to get into 
the spirit of it. I would not dare to meet my class 
without this." 

It is true that the teacher with twenty classes 
a day cannot spend an hour on the preparation 
of each lesson. But most of the lessons will not 
require so much — sometimes the preparation 
will be the making of an outline or plan, some- 
times reading the lesson over to freshen the rnind 
upon it, sometimes only thinking the lesson 
through, for its plan and topics. It may at times, 
however, mean hard and serious study to master 

96 . 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

the difficult points and their presentation. But 
whatever it means, the conscientious and growing 
teacher will go to the lesson prepared to teach 
it in such a way as to inspire to high standards 
and mastery on the part of the pupils. 

b. Preparation by the class. — But in addition 
to the well-prepared teacher, there must also be 
a well-prepared class. The teacher cannot make 
bricks without straw. Every failure to recite 
when called upon is a dead weight upon the 
progress of the recitation ; and each failure makes 
it easier for the next one to fail with impunity, 
or at least without disgrace. It therefore be- 
hooves the teacher who would have inspiring 
recitations to lead the pupils to a high standard 
of preparation. 

The pupil's preparation of the lesson should 
include two distinct lines: (i) Mastery of the 
facts, thought, or meaning of the lesson; and (2) 
thought or plans how best to express the lesson 
in the recitation. Most pupils think they "have 
their lesson " when they have memorized it or 
come to understand it. They must also be made 
to see that an important part of their preparation 
97 



THE RECITATION 

lies in the ability to tell well what they have 
learned, 

4. High standards i7t the recitation 

There is no more potent force than public 
opinion to compel to high achievement or restrain 
from unworthy acts. A school in which the 
standards of preparation and recitation are low 
presents a difficult problem for the teacher in 
the recitation. In some schools pupils who are 
diffident about reciting, or who do not care to 
take the trouble, shake their heads in refusal 
almost before they hear the question in full. 
Others sit in stolid silence when called upon, 
and make no response of any kind. In still other 
cases the class smile or giggle when several have 
been called upon and have failed to recite, thus 
taking the failure as a joke. 

Of course such a lack of standards proclaims 
the previous teaching to have been weak and 
bungling. It shows the effects of a teacher with- 
out standards or skill. But the immediate ques- 
tion is how to remedy such an evil situation when 
one finds it existing in a school. 

98 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

It is probable that low standards come as often 
from work that is too difficult or too great in 
amount as from any other source. If the child 
fails to understand the lesson, or has not had 
time to master it, he cannot recite, however much 
he may desire to. All that is left for him is to 
decline when called upon. He may be chagrined 
at first over his failure; but if failure follows 
failure, he soon ceases to care when unable to 
recite. The remedy suggests itself at once ; as- 
sign lessons that are within the child's ability, 
and also within the time available for their prepa- 
ration. Then iizsist that the work be done and the 
recitation be made. 

If the failure comes from laziness, lack of study, 
indulgence in mischief, or any such cause, the 
remedy will be a different one. But a remedy 
must be devised and applied. No school can run 
successfully without good standards well main- 
tained for the recitation. The teacher who feels 
that the standards of the school are too low in 
this particular should never be satisfied until the 
cause for such a condition is discovered, and 
worthy standards instituted. This will be one of 
99 



THE RECITATION 

the hardest tests upon the teacher's ingenuity 
and skill. 

The public opinion of the school must be brought 
to take the recitation seriously. It must not be a 
cause for levity when several pupils fail. Failure 
must come to be looked forward to with appre- 
hension, and looked back upon with humiliation. 
And all this must be done without scolding and 
bickering. It must be done with great patience 
and good nature, but it must be done. The teacher 
must himself have a high standard of excellence, 
and must persistently impress this upon his class. 
Here again the ideals of the teacher are conta- 
gious. 

5. A spirit of cooperation 

Much depends on the spirit with which class 
and teacher enter upon the recitation. If the 
spirit of cooperation is lacking ; if the relations 
between teacher and pupils are strained or not 
cordial ; if the class look upon the recitation as a 
kind of game in which the teacher tries to corner 
and catch the class, and the class try to avoid 
being cornered and caught, then the recitation 
is certain to be a failure. 
100 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

Under skillful teaching the pupils should come 
to look forward to the recitation with pleasure 
and anticipation. It should be a time when teacher 
and class work together in whole-hearted, en- 
thusiastic effort, with the common aim of bring- 
ing the class to master more fully the matter of 
the lesson. There should be no feeling that the 
teacher has one aim and the class another aim, 
or that their interests are in any way antagonis- 
tic ; no feeling that the teacher's highest ambi- 
tion is to catch pupils in errors, and the pupil's 
highest achievement to avoid being caught. There 
should be no attempt at bluffing, or covering up 
errors or points not understood. 

Probably the greatest factor in establishing 
and maintaining a spirit of cooperation between 
teacher and class is a deep-seated and sympa- 
thetic desire on the part of the teacher to be 
helpful. If his attitude is that of a friend and 
co-worker, and his criticisms and corrections are 
all made in the spirit of helping to a better un- 
derstanding rather than in the spirit of fault- 
finding, this will go far toward establishing a 
spirit of cooperation in the class. 

lOI 



THE RECITATION 

This does not mean that the teacher shall be 
weak, and let mistakes or failures go by un- 
noticed. Weak teachers are never liked or re- 
spected. It only means that the teacher, in mak- 
ing corrections or calling attention to failures, 
shall manifest the spirit of a helper and not of a 
faultfinder. It means that no matter how many 
times a teacher may have to correct or even pun- 
ish a pupil, his attitude toward the pupil will still 
be cordial and friendly. There are many persons 
who cannot correct a fault without having some 
enmity arise toward the one corrected. But what 
the teacher needs is to be able to correct, rebuke 
or punish, and at the same time keep the heart 
warm toward the wrongdoer. This will not only 
secure better results from the corrections, but 
will also foster the spirit of helpfulness and co- 
operation between teacher and school. 

Finally, the class should be brought to see that 
the school is their school, and not the teacher's 
school or the board's school. They should realize 
that failure or low achievement is their loss, and 
not the teacher's loss. They should feel that 
their interests and those of the teacher, the board, 
1 02 



> 



CONDITIONS OF A GOOD RECITATION 

and the taxpayers who support the school are 
all common interests, and that only as the pu- 
pils do their part will the interests of all be con- 
served. 



THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE 
LESSON 



THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE 
LESSON 

I. The importance of proper assignment 

Upon the proper assignment of the lesson de- 
pends much of the success of the recitation, 
and also much of the pupils' progress in learning 
how to study. The assignment of the lesson thus 
becomes one of the most important duties of the 
recitation period. Too many times this is left 
until the very close of the class hour, when there 
is no time left for proper assignment, and the 
teacher can only say, ^* Take the next four pages," 
or ''Work out the next twenty problems." 

2. Good assignment and teaching the art of 
study 

We forget that children do not understand 
how to go to work at the lesson as we know 
how. The result is that they come back to the 
107 



THE RECITATION 

next recitation listless and uninterested, with the 
lesson not prepared. Or, it may happen that the 
less timid ones, when they come to study the 
lesson, call upon the teacher to show them how 
to go to work. The teacher has then to take 
time needed for other things to show different 
individuals what should have been presented to 
the entire class when the lesson was assigned. 
Such a method is comparable with giving a set 
of tools into the hands of novices who do not 
know how to use them, and then, without any 
instruction in the use of the tools, expecting 
them to turn out good work, without loss of 
time. 

Little children are unfamiliar with books, — 
with the paragraphs, outlines, divisions, and sub- 
divisions of a subject. They hardly know how to 
" gather thought " from a printed page, and yet 
we expect them to "get their lesson " without 
being shown how to go at it. Much time is lost 
in this way, and many children are discouraged 
in their work and caused to dislike going to 
school. 

The Germans far excel us in this feature of 
io8 



THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

their school work. No class of German children 
are ever sent to their seats with the simple 
direction to take so many pages in advance. 
Teacher and class together go over the next 
lesson, the teacher calling the attention of the 
class to the points of the lesson, asking them to 
hunt out subdivisions, etc., and instructing them 
how to prepare the lesson. And the class, hav- 
ing this necessary help, are able to prepare their 
lesson better and recite it better than the Ameri- 
can children of the same age. 

3. The teacher' s preparation for assignment 

There are three chief reasons why teachers 
do not give more attention to the assignment of 
the lesson : (i) Lack of time, (2) failure them- 
selves to prepare the lesson in advance so as to 
be able to assign it, and (3) lack of understand- 
ing of proper methods of study. 

Lack of time is not an adequate excuse for 
failure properly to assign the lesson. If there is 
but fifteen minutes for the recitation, all the 
more reason why this time should be used to the 
best advantage for the pupils. If one third of this 
109 



THE RECITATION 

time should be taken for the assignment of the next 
lesson (and this is usually not too large a propor- 
tion in elementary classes), then this much time 
should be taken. And, besides, if the lesson is 
well assigned, so that it is better understood 
and prepared by the class, more can be accom- 
plished in ten minutes of actual reciting than in 
fifteen under the old method. 

It may sometimes be advisable to assign the 
advance lesson at the beginning of the recitation, 
but usually it is better to wait until the close ; 
for then the connection between the present les- 
son and the next can better be brought out. 

Failure to look ahead in the textbook and 
become familiar with the next lesson renders it 
impossible properly to make the assignment. 
The teacher must know the scope of the lesson, 
its chief points, and the main difficulties it will 
present to the class. How often teachers are 
obliged to say to an unprepared class : " I did not 
realize how hard that lesson was, or I would not 
have assigned so much "; or, "That lesson was 
longer than I intended." All of which is a con- 
fession that the teacher was unprepared to make 
no 



THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

the assignment properly. It is true that the 
teacher is very busy and has many lessons to 
prepare ; but, on the other hand, the teacher who 
keeps a day ahead of the class in his preparation 
will find that it abundantly pays in the greater 
mastery of his subject and the time saved in 
reviewing it preparatory to the recitation. This 
is not time lost, it is time saved. 

The young teacher's lack of knowledge of the 
principles underlying the art of study is a more 
serious matter, and a difficulty harder to over- 
come. Every teacher should make a special study 
of the psychology of attention and interest. He 
should also come to know how the mind naturally 
approaches any new subject, first securing a 
synthetic or bird's-eye view of it as a whole; 
how next it analyzes it into its elements ; and 
how finally it thinks them together, or synthe- 
sizes them, into a new and better-understood 
whole. 

4. How to assign a lesson 

There may, of course, be some lessons that 
can properly be assigned in a moment by telling 
the class how much to take in advance. This is 
III 



THE RECITATION 

true of lessons that are only a continuation of 
matter with which the class are already some- 
what familiar, which they know how to study, 
and which contains no special difficulties. For 
example, spelling lessons presenting no new 
difficulties or especially hard words ; arithmetic 
lessons containing practice problems intended 
for drill, but no new topics for study ; grammar 
lessons consisting of applications of principles 
or rules already mastered. But all lessons that 
are built upon a logical outline, or contain new 
or difficult principles, or involve especial difficul- 
ties of any kind should be assigned carefully 
and with sufficient detail to make sure that the 
class know how to go to work in preparing the 
lesson without loss of time and interest. 

It is necessary, however, to observe a caution 
in this connection. There is some danger of as- 
signing lessons in such a way as to render too 
much help, and thus relieve the pupil of the ne- 
cessity of mastering it for himself. It is difficult 
to say whether the mistake of helping too much 
in the assignment, or not helping enough is the 
more serious. The teacher must know his class 

112 



THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

and his textbook, and then use the best judg- 
ment he has in making just such suggestions as 
will result in the best effort and mastery by the 
pupils without robbing them of the necessity for 
work. 

5. Principles governing the assignment 

The following are the chief points to be ob- 
served in assigning the lesson : — 

I. Go over the lesson with the class in such 
a way as to give them a bird's-eye view of the 
whole, a general idea of what the entire lesson is 
about, or what it is meant to teach. Sometimes 
this can best be done with the books open in the 
hands of the pupils, the teacher calling attention 
to the topics treated. Occasionally the teacher 
may himself state the aim or scope of the lesson 
without the use of the text. Getting this syn- 
thetic view of the lesson enables the pupil to be- 
gin study with better intelligence, and also helps 
him better to understand the relation of the sep- 
arate parts to the lesson as a whole. In this 
bird's-eye view of the lesson its relation to the 
lesson just recited, or other previous lessons, 
113 



THE RECITATION 

should be brought out so as to unite the separate 
lessons into a continuous view of the subject. 

2. Suggestions should be given as to the anal- 
ysis of the lesson into its different topics. If the 
text uses a system of numerals in designating 
the points, the pupils should form the habit of 
using these in studying the lesson. For example, 
finding I, they should look for II, III, etc., thus 
getting the main heads. Under these main topic 
numerals will often be found a series of para- 
graphs numbered i, 2, 3, etc., indicating the dif- 
ferent topics under each head. The system may 
even extend to sub-topics lettered a^ b, c^ etc. 
The pupil should early learn to look for and make 
use of these helps in the analysis of the lesson. 
And even when the author does not introduce 
any such system of numbering he still follows 
some outline more or less logically arranged. No 
better training in analysis, and no better method 
of mastering a lesson can be found than for the 
pupil himself to make a written outline of the 
lesson, using such a system of numbering the 
topics and sub-topics as that suggested above. 

3. Children should be taught to make a final 

114 



THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

summary, or synthesis, of the lesson after they 
have analyzed it into its separate points. Of 
course a large proportion of the details learned 
and recited in any lesson will finally be forgot- 
ten. But this does not mean that such details 
were unnecessary. It rather means that their 
part was to help in bringing out the few main 
facts or points and making them clear. For most 
lessons can be reduced to a few chief points. 
These are the ones to be remembered and used 
in further learning. It is these important points 
which the pupil should summarize and fix in his 
memory and understanding as the final act in 
preparing the lesson. Not to do this is to fail to 
reap the best results from the work put upon the 
lesson, for these more important points are lost 
almost as readily as the less important details 
unless they are emphasized in some such way as 
has been suggested. 

It is of course not meant that this summary of 
points should be worked out by the teacher when 
the lesson is being assigned. That is for the 
pupils to do as a result of their analysis of the 
lesson. But the teacher should specifically call at- 
115 



THE RECITATION 

tention to the necessity for such a summary until 
the habit is so fixed that the pupils follow this 
method of study without further direction. The 
pupil's summary of the lesson should be tested in 
the recitation just as much as his analysis of the 
facts of the lesson. This is done by few teachers. 

4. Particularly difficult points, or points of im- 
portance as a basis for later work, should be espe- 
cially emphasized in the assignment of the les- 
son. This will go far toward saving the fatal 
weakness on fundamental points which is shown 
in later work by so many pupils. Not having 
been over the ground before and therefore not 
realizing the importance or difficulty of the crit- 
ical points in a subject, the pupils must of neces- 
sity be largely dependent on the teacher for such 
suggestions. 

5. Pupils need to be taught to look up and 
come to understand the allusions and various 
references often used in history, reading, or other 
lessons. The younger pupils will often have to 
be shown how to do this. Therefore such points 
should be referred to in making the assignment, 
and any necessary directions should be given. 

116 



THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

6. Not infrequently new or unusual words or 
phrases are encountered by pupils in preparing 
their lessons, and they are hampered in their 
study by failing to understand the new terms. 
The teacher, knowing his pupils, should be able 
to anticipate any trouble of this kind, and give 
such explanations or help as may be necessary 
when assigning the lesson. 

7. In case written work is to constitute a part 
of the preparation, the directions governing what 
is to be done should be so clear and explicit that 
there is no possibility of their not being under- 
stood, and the teacher's being interrupted next 
day to explain to members of the class. Much 
time can be saved for both teacher and pupils, 
and many distractions prevented from disturbing 
recitations if this simple direction is followed. 

8. If the principles suggested above are fol- 
lowed in assigning lessons, there will be little 
excuse for a pupil's forgetting the assignment. 
It will therefore be a safe rule not to repeat as- 
signments for the benefit of careless or inatten- 
tive pupils. The teacher who will refuse to be 
interrupted during recitation hours to tell pupils 

117 



THE RECITATION 

what the lesson is, but who will reassign the les- 
son for the pupil at recess-time, or after school, 
will very soon find all such troubles vanish, and 
will at the same time be giving his pupils valu- 
able and necessary training in attention and 
memory. 



OUTLINE 

I. THE PURPOSES OF THE RECITATION 

1. The teacher and the recitation 2 

2. The necessity of having a clear aim 3 

3. Testing as an aim in the recitation 5 

a. The preparation of the lesson assigned ... 6 

b. The pupil's knowledge and his methods of study 7 

c. The pupil's points of failure and the cause 

thereof 10 

4. Teaching as an aim in the recitation 12 

a. Give the child an opportunity for self-expression 13 

b. Give help on difficult points 15 

c. Bring in new points supplementing the text . . 16 

d. Inspire the pupils to better efforts and higher 

ideals 17 

e. Lead pupils into good habits of study . . . .17 

5. Drill as an aim in the recitation 19 

a. Drill should be employed wherever a high de- 

gree of skill is required 21 

b. Drill must be upon correct models, and with 

alert interest and attention 21 

c. Drill must not stop short of a reasonable degree 

of efficiency, or skill 23 

d. Drill must be governed by definite aims ... 23 

6. A desirable balance among the three aims . , . 25 

II. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

1. Method varies with aim 29 

2. Fundamental principles of method 30 

119 



OUTLINE 

a. Interest is the first requisite for attention and all 

mental activity 30 

b. The natural mode of learning is to proceed from 

the known to the related unknown . . . .31 

3. The use of special forms of method 32 

4. The question-and-answer method 33 

a. When and where to employ the question-and- 

answer method 34 

b. Dangers of the question-and-answer method . 38 

5. The topical method 40 

a. Where the topical method is most serviceable . 41 

b. The question of standards in topical recitations 44 

6. The lecture, or supplemental, method 45 

a. How the lecture method is to be used .... 46 

b. Dangers from the lecture method 47 

7. The written recitation 48 

a. The use of the written recitation 48 

b. Dangers in the use of the written method . . 49 



III. THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

1. The importance of good questioning 55 

2. Need of fundamental principles 56 

3. The principle of freedom from textbooks ... 56 

4. The principle of unity or continuity in questions . 61 

5. The principle of clearness 64 

a. Freedom from ambiguity or obscurity of word- 

ing dS 

b. Adaptation to the age and understanding of the 

child 66 

c. Brevity ^^ 

6. The principle of definiteness 6Z 

120 



OUTLINE 

7. Secondary principles of good questioning ... 73 

8. The treatment of answers 76 

IV. CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO A 
GOOD RECITATION 

1. Freedom from distractions 81 

a. Distractions by the teacher 82 

b. Distractions by the class 84 

c. Distractions by the school 2>6 

d. Physical distractions 87 

2. Interest and enthusiasm 89 

a. The teacher's command of the subject-matter of 

the recitation 90 

b. The teacher's attitude toward his work ... 91 

c. The teacher's health 91 

d. Experience 93 

3. Well-mastered lessons • • 94 

a. Preparation by the teacher 94 

b. Preparation by the class 97 

4. High standards in the recitation 98 

5. A spirit of cooperation loo 

V. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

1. The importance of proper assignment .... 107 

2. Good assignment and teaching the art of study 107 

3. The teacher's preparation for assignment . . 109 

4. How to assign a lesson m 

5. Principles governing the assignment .... 113 



V, 



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